CULTURE OF MUSHROOMS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1833, 7 January 1880, Page 3

CULTURE OF MUSHROOMS.

["Turf, Field, and Farm."] This very exoellent esculent is deserving of more extensive recognition than it obtains in this country, both on account of its nutritious value, and from the ease with whioh it may be cultivated. During the comparatively cool seasons of spring and autumn mushrooms may be grown either in a house or out of doors, but in the heat of summer and the wet of winter they requiro the shelter of a house or shed, whioh must be cool in summer and dry in winter. It is now getting late for making beds out of doors, but if no other situation is available, a sheltered situation should be chosen, and by protecting the beds from heavy rains and scorching heat by some kind of covering, they may be kept in a bearing state for several weeks. When the rains of winter have begun to fall, it is necessary to have the beds under cover in a shed, stable, or any other outbuilding where they can be kept dry. In summer time a cellar is the best place in which it can be made. The first operation is to prooure a supply of horsedroppings, that from stall-fed horses being considered the best; if it contains a small portion of short litter, it will be none the worse; as the droppings are collected they should be spread out under a cover to dry ; then, when the superabundant moisture has left them, thrown into a heap to ferment, and frequently turned so as to prevent violent heating. When the rankness has pasted away and the dung has become what gardeners term sweet, it is fit for being made into a bed. For beds out of doors tho dung may be used in almost a fresh state by mixing it with dry soil. A trench may be dug out three or four feet wide, six inches deep, and of any convenient length, the soil that is dug out being built up on the sides ; this must be filled with the prepared dung or the dung and soil to a foot in depth. Wherever tho bed is is made, the dung must be well beaten or rammed as the work proceeds, and the surface left a little rounded ; as soon as the bed is finished, a number ot trial sticks should be stuck into it to test the heat; and should the temperature become very high, a portion of the dung may be turned up to permit the superfluous heat to escape, and afterward levelled down and again well beaten j but should the heat not rise sufficiently high, then a portion of fresh hot dung may be laid over it and left until the temperature has risen to the proper height. When the heat has begun to decline and has fallen to a temperature of of about seventy or or eighty degrees, or that of new milk, the spawn may be inserted about an inch deep in pieces about the sire of a hen's egg and about six or eight inohes apart, the surface being again beaten hard and covered with three inches of maiden loam, from an old pasture if possible ; and over that from nine to twelve inches of hay. The bed may then be left for a month, when it must be uncovered, and well watered, with warm water if the bed is cool, or cold water if it is considered too hot, again covered up, and in about a fortnight the mushrooms may bo expected to appear. It is a practice with some growers, as soon as the bed is spawnod, to cover the surface with a thin coating of fresh cow-dung, previous to putting on the soil, the pieces of spawn being kept near the surface. By this means the bed will continue to bear for a greater length of time. Beds under cover are generally made on the floor against a wall, and supported on the outside by a board about a foot deep, while the depth of covering must be regulated by the warmth of tho bed, being laid on thinly at first and afterward increased, as may be required. Next to an even and moderate temperature the state of moisture demands the greatest attention. If the soil is made at all sodden, the crop will be almoßt surely spoiled ; neither must it bo allowed to want water so much as to appear dry. Therefore, beds out of doors must have an extra covering during raiay weather to throw the water off. Mushrooms are liable to be attacked by wood-lice and slugs, especially the former, which may be destroyed by pouring boiliDg water around the sides of the bed, or by suddenly taking off the covoring and pouring boiling water over it. The bed itself will bear water nearly boiling before the mushrooms begin to come up. On no account must lime or sulphur be placed on the bed, as it causes death to all fungi. In gathering the mushrooms they Bhould be carefully twisted out of the ground, taking care not to injure the young ones at their base. Old beds that have coased to bear may be renovated by scraping off the soil, replacing it with four inches thick of prepared dung, and covoring that with the same depth of soil as before. It may be remarked that the more slowly a bod comes forward, and the less it is forced, the longer it will last.