Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-01
M U SHROOM CULTURE
Not in Suburban Pastures, But Down.
town Cellars.
How the Spawn is Planted, the Soil
That Is Prepared and the Pro.
FITS of the Undertaking.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star

| Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star
PHILADELPHIA, December a. 1897
Don't those look fine?" asked a down.
| town restaurateur of The Star correspond
ent, directing attention to a basket of tooth
| some and succulent mushrooms. whose
white caps and pink bellies shone IN al-
| ternatfng colcrs in one of the front windows
| of his eating house
| you may be disinclined to believe what 1
am going to say. but those mushrooms
We're grown right here in Philadelphia. No,
not out in some of the suburbs where there
| are vacant pastures, and where they are
| sometimes found in their season-late sum-
mer and early autumn-but in the thickly
| populated districts Of the city, where roomy
! yards are luxury and lot big enough for
| pasturage is unknown.
! Mushroom growing is getting to be
fad in some paris of Philadelphia, end
those who have experimental in even a
small way find that 1t is not Only an inter-
esting work. though necessitating consd-
! cradle care, but Profitable as well. Those
| mushrooms you see in the window are West
Philadelphia products, and they were rails
| ed by the wife of man who is a well-to- do
| business man down town.
| she was an invalid for a number of
| she had was tie care of her house plants.
| The first year of her illness she was con-
( hned TO her bed, and, obeying the mandate
| of the good old family doctor was COM
PEELED to conform to diet that excluded
the heavier foods. The wife of neighbor
| who had just returned from early morn
| ings mushroom hunt in the country. pre-
| pared for her sick friend, while she was
convalescng, a dish of the bouillon from
! the delicious fungi.
| This struck a responsive chord in the
| appetite of the invalid, and fresh mush-
re omS found ready market at her house
| every day. When the season waned she
! was compelled to depend upon the canned
product, which Is imported principally from
| France. This did not give satisfaction
! the bouillon is most delicious and finer
| favored when extracted from the fresh
plant.
ut was then the idea of raising mush-
rooms at home suggested itself. If the peo-
| pie of France could grow them. why could
not she do it? she argued, displaying the
| characteristic confidence Of her sex. She
| set about at once to bring her ideas into
| tangible form. Her husband sent to Lon
| don for several bricks of the myceliuna, or
| spawn, and carpenter was called in to
| make box for the bed. The woman cor
respt nded with a French hOrticulturist,
with the result that within a few months a
portion of the cellar of her home was
| transformed into a veritable mushroom hot
house.
She Succeeds.
To-day she has in her cellar perhaps two
| dozen beds of mushrooms which yield to
her during the months when the plant is
out of season a handsome profit, in addition
| to satisfying the wants of her family and
her numerous gifts to the sick of her ac-
| quaintance. Her success il growing mush-
rooms has been the means Of engaging 9TH
ers in it. do not mean that they are in 1t
for a business, but that 1t Is found more
profitable than cultivating house plants
and requires little more care, after the beds
are made and the cellar is once placed In
condition.
II thirk can safely say there are fifty
cellars In Philadelphia, few of them in
the most fashionable part of the city,
where mushrooms are raised out of season.
They are all the result of the experiment of
the woman 1 spoke of. And in nearly every
case the beds are looked after by the ma
tron Of the house. 1t is work that
quires sOr1e patience. and we men, you
know, are possessors of that virtue only in
a small degree.
why are mushrooms raised in cellars?
Well, there are several reasons. First place.
| in a big city. the cellar seems to be about
the only available place: and then, different
from most plants, mushrooms do not re-
| quire light Mushrooms appear to be de-
pendent upon the horse. The manure of
fCrses or cattle is the medium in which the
| nycelum of the plant f1ourishes most Wig
orously. The earth of riding schools, in the
| rear of stables, or from a horse mill, in
which the manure is thoroughly trodden
| into the soil. has been found to afford the
| most abundant supply of spawn.
How to Do 1t.
Another thing of Importance is the main
| tsining of the cellar at a certain tempera-
ture usually between 80 and GO degrees
Some use pure horse manure, while others
mix 1t with that Of cattle. The beds are
|
| solidly and large enough to maintain a heat
! Of about 20 degrees Fahrenheit. A bed be-
| ing of proper temperature, bits of an I'M
| ported brick containing the spawn are in
serted In it at intervals, and when the
| spawn is growing rapidly. or runs. about
| two inches of soil is placed on the bed and
| it is then covered with straw Water Is
| applied If necessary, and should be warmed
| to the temperature of the bed.
The mushrooms appear in six to eight
| weeks. and are collected in the button state
as those you see in the window, as large rs
| required. Yes, the mushroom-gr growing fad
is rapidly gaining in popularity in PhiladaI-
| phia. In addition to those have spoken Of
| | know of several more persons who are GO
| ing to have mushroom farms-that is the
| right name for them-in their cellars.
| Few people seem to know the value of
many of the fungi. and some of the very
| best mushrooms in country pastures
| generally considered worthless toadstools.
| hno" Oh some progressive farmers IN the
vicinity of Philadelphia who have been
| carefully studying mushroom growing, and
are coming money through their foresight.
FIesh-Like Flavor.
Mushrooms resemble flesh in flavor more
nearly than do any other vegetable. and
| they contain all the particles of nourish-
| ment that are in beefsteak. A space about
| ten feet long in some dark place. with
| shelves covered with earth, is sufficient to
produce far more mushrooms than enough
| to satisfy the demands of the most ardent
| mushroom lover.
| "a friend of mine told me q few days
ago of a hostess in a fashionable uptown
| home who had made herself the envy of