The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-12-27
TALKS TO FARMERS.
A MUSHROOM SCHEME.

A MUSHROOM SCHEME.
correspondent in North Carolina
writes:
Il enclose you circular from the
Company. of New York, recommending
the mushroom industry. Please give NE
your opinion as to such an industry
here. and how they may be grown profit
ably" The circular enclosed has no re-
sponsible name attached, and we are UNI
able to say whether the Company is
responsible or not. The circular tells
OF great profits that can be made in grow
ing mushrooms, and says that the Com
pany'' will contract to buy all that are
grown from spawn furnished by theE2,
at current" prices. We suppose they
intended current prices. But they say,
with apparent fairness, that you need not
buy spawn from them, but can get it
anywhere, and they will buy the crop il
sample OF the spawn is sent to them
for inspection to see that it is all rign.
Otherwise they will not contract for the
crop. Now here is the niger in the
wood-pile." They offer spawn at 81
bcx, and do not say what the box weighs,
but do say that the dollars worth VIII
spawn a bed 3x5 feet. This will be pretty
expensive spawning, for you can spawn
more bed than that with twenty cents
worth of the ordinary brick spawn. Doubt
less it you get spawn elsewhere they will
tell you that it is not good and you must
get theirs. The fact is that no one can
tell anything about the quality of spawn
until it Is tried. The whole thing looks
like a scheme to sell spawn for a big
price to inexperienced men, who will ut
terly fail to grow any crop, and, of
course, the sellers of the spawn will have
none to pay for. There is no necessity
for contracting with people who are afraid
or ashamed to put their names on their
circulars, for mushrooms are staple Ar
ticle on the market, and will always
sell if in good condition. But the chances
are that an inexperienced man will fail
In the first attempt to grow mushrooms
IL is easy enough after you get the hang
of it, but little omissions often spoil the
crop. Then the circular says that they
can be grown in a room in the house,
or in the cellar and will make the cellar
more wholesome; all of which is pure
nonsense, for no one wants a fermenting
bed of compost in his house, and it will
not be pleasant in a cellar under a dwell
ing, but should be in some frost-proof
building outside. You can get plenty OF
good spawn from the leading seedsmen
for % cents a pound by the single pound,
and a good deal less in quantity. The
is little chance for making profit IN
growing mushrooms in North Carolina
to ship North. They must be grown near
the market and where an abundant sup
ply of fresh horse manure can be had at
all times. of course you can grow some
for home use in cellar, but for COM
Il
ture specially built for them. If you will
write to the secreatry of Agriculture.
Washington, D. c., and ask Tor copy of
Farmers Bulletin No. So, "How to Grow
Mushrooms" it will tell you all about it,
and then it you get crop at the first
effort we will be surprised. Mushrooms
are quite profitable near a large market,
when gown by men who are skilled in tie
culture. But our advice is to let severely
alone any parties who offer to furnish
seed or stock of any kind and want to
get you to contract to sell them the crop.
Fever heard of any such parties keeping
a contract.
The Washington correspondent of the
Philadelphia Inquirer says that the pres
ident of the United States is contempla
ting an investigation of the methods of
free seed distribution in the Department
of Agriculture. We would suggest as a
better subject for Investigation the prac
tice of congressman in appropriating hun
dreds of thousands of dollars for this pur-
pose, and the reasons at the bottom
for their doing so. He had better inves
tigate the law under which the abuse
has grown up and see if he cannot get
it confined to its original purpose in tn"
introduction and testing of seeds new in
this country, and that may be of probable
value here, rather than the scattering
abroad over the land of seeds that can
be bought generally of better quality from
seedsmen and which are now only used
by the congressman as tafy to their con-
stituents. He had better inquire why it
is that these seeds, little valued as they
are by the people in general, are sent
by congressman only to their political
friends rather than to cultivators with
out regard to party. In short, he had bet
ter investigate the abuse of the law by
congress than the particular method the
secretary uses to obey the law, which
he knows absorbs hundreds of thousands
OF dollars he could use to better pur
pose in the development Of American ag-
riculture.