Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-03-02
CHICAGO MUSHROOMS
Development of a Unique Industry
 in the Big City.
Many Tons of the FungoAd Edible
 [ Raised for Home Consumption and shipment--some M etntla of the Work.

Chicago has in the last few years developed an additional claim to fame. It has become the mushroom center of the United States and one of the largest producers of the edible fungus in the world, reports the Tribune. From tho scattering cellar beds that ten years ago produced all the mushrooms grown in the city there has developed an industry re- quiring acres of low brick and wood structures and the employment of hundreds of men and women.
 For the last two or three years Chicago has produced annually from, 60 to 75 tons of mushrooms. The city has itself nursed the industry and made 1t what it is. for of the 75 tons which 1t is estimated the city mushroom growers will put out be- fore the present season ends, in June, Chicago is expected to consume In it's hotels, clubs, restaurants and private homes some 50 tons. This represents the average annual con- sumption in the city, the remainder of the crop being shipped to nearby cities.
 The Chicago mushroom is said to be much sought after by restaurants and hotels in the larger cities of the west and northwest, because of It's superior favor, due to the high state of cultivation reached through ex- periments with soils and water and temperatures by the larger growers here.
 The Chicago mushroom is also de- clared to spring mp just trife quicker than the proverbia1 mush- room. The usual time of five or six weeks Is required for the spawn, which is imported from Europe. to reach the top of the earth, but once the growth breaks through the soil and into tho Chicago air the mush- room makes betHer time In reaching its full growth. it is said, than it. would anywhere else on earth.
 The largest mushroom producer i'm the city, and one of the largest in the world, a Chicago pioneer, who was born in Fort Dearborn in 1s36,, with his son, who is now associated with him in tho business, has housed in seven low brick structures, stand ing partly under and partly over ground, s7,0o0 square feet of beds, from which during the height of the season is taken a ton of mushrooms week.
 Inside the structures are tiers upon tiers of board foored, bunklike beds, reaching from the gravel floor to the ceiling. In each bed there is layer of half a foot of manure, with topping of two inches of rich soil. Five tons of manure and soil are required each year for the beds of this one farm. Thirty women. who during tho mushroom season act as pickers, are kept busy in June and July turning the manure In the sun and preparing it for the beds. Wom- en are hired in preference to men, because they exhibit greater care in the work of curing the manure, upon which largely depends the success or failure of the years crop.
 The laying of the beds is begun in July, the manure and soil being car ried over the top of the buildings in cars and dumped into the beds through traps in the roof.
 Spawning the bedstfs the next oper- ation. The Jackson beds require 12,ooo pounds of spawn, or mycelinm, which is network of white, threadlike fiber running through compost of manure and loam and nodded in the form of brick nine inches long, five inches wide and two inches thick. The bricks are broken up into small pieces and planted deep down in the manure.
 After the spawning the grower spends six weeks of anxiety over his beds, failures due to poor spawn be- ing not unusual. The first indications above ground of successful crop are patches of white here and there, the mushroom being no larger than a pin head at it's first appearance above ground. If the crop is to be a par ticularly large one, the white is pre- ceded by bluish mold, showing in spots over the entire bed.
 The mushrooms are picked morning and afternoon, packed in the evening, and sent to. the downtown hotels, clubs, restaurants and commission houses the following morning. On | the farm in Bowmanville the whole 1 force of 30 women is employed in pick l ing during the busy season. It has been estimated that one man, to pick the combined length of all the beds, would have to walk four miles in the operation.
 Each mushroom is picked separately and placed in a bGshel basket. They are then packed in one pound boxes and sent to market in three grades No. 1, the perfect, 1arge-sized mush- room; No. 2, the smaller or "button" size, and No. 3, the deformed and broken caps.
 The brick of manure and loam and seed, which is the beginning of the mushroom, is made in England and
 Holland and imported into the United 1 States. As made in Holland, the brick | of manure and loam is nodded first. Holes are scooped out at the middle
 and each of the four corners and maiden spawn inserted into them.
 The holes are then plastered up with l the same compost the brick is made of. The bricks are then placed in ] piles and covered for several days with