MUSHROOM GROWING.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2888, 18 May 1878, Page 4

MUSHROOM GROWING.

In this colony mushrooms are naturally produced in such large quantities when the conditions of weather are favourable that few gardeners take the trouble of preparing beds, or spawning them. It is only necessary to dig into the ground during February or March some rather new stable litter, containing plenty of droppings, to ensure the appearance of a heavy crop of mushrooms soon after the occurrence of the first autumn rains. Where stable dung has been thus dug ia to fill up spare time, the mushrooms have often interfered seriously with the vegetable crop sown or planted on the site; they have so disturbed and lifted the soil as to prevent the growth of the legitimate crop until after the mushroom season has passed. Top dressings half-rotted stable dung applied to vine borders in gardens, often yield fine crops of mushrooms, but a covering of earth is needed to insure their production. It appears, from a series of articles in the Garden, that the action of materials containing nitrous salts, such as saltpetre, has a great effect upon the development of the mushroom." In the Paris mushroom caves, chips and powder of atone taken out of the quarries are used to promole the production of mushrooms. The powdered stone is mixed with earth, and the mixture is spread over the beds ; the proportions employed are three parts of the powdered stone to one ©f fine, light dry earth. The action of the powdered stone is due to the nitrous salts with which it is always strongly impregnated, and which furnish the mushroom with the abundance of nitrogen which, is necessary to its existence. The beds in the Paris caves are first formed of manure, and the above mixture is used for soiling them, the spawn having been previously inserted in the usual manner. In this country the principal natural or open-air crop or mushrooms is produced in the autumn; in the spring they are never very numerous, the weather being too frequently chilly—a humid, close, and moderately warm atmosphere being most favorable for the development of mushrooms. Beds may also be formed at this season-of the year. A load or two of stable litter having been procured, it should be turned over and well mixed together several times-at intervals of three days, and if the use of a shed can be afforded, the better, as it is desirable that the dung be not washed by rain. The shed, if it could be spared, would be a suitable place for the bed, as complete command of it would thereby be afforded. The ducg having been well turned over for a fortnight, may be formed into a bed. The English make their beds'flat, about a foot thick, and 3ft or 4ft wide, but the Paris beds are 2ft 3in wide at the base by 2ft high, the top being finished off in a double slope. The material is pressed down from time to time as the building of the bed proceeds, and, when finished, it is allowed to remain for five or six days. The temperature of thenaiddle of the bed is examined from time to time by thrusting a stick or a thermometer into it; if the heat rises so high as to indicate a possibility of tho dung becoming fire - fanged, it should be taken apart and turned again twice at intervals of two days, but it will usually* on the contrary, be ready for spawning. Choose only perfectly dry pieces of spawn, about the size of wallnuts, and insert them, a foot apart, an inch deep in the dung; then coyer .with light dry soil or sand about l|in thick. .As soon as the surface of the soil becomes quite dry it should be watered (according to the Paris custom) with a solution of 2ozs of saltpetre dissolved in 10 gallons of water. In England rain-water is used, and its temperature is always raised to about 70 before applying it. Mushrooms are grown in so great a variety of ways that it is difficult to say how they may not be grown. BasEets of stable dung are sometimes placed in cellars, and are treated as beds, spawn being inserted in the usual way. Failures are- not uncommon even under the management of skilled growers. In the Paris caves beds sometimes yield no result, and the cause cannot be. guessed at, but it is probably due to the presence of. some hostile element in the dung. It is hardly necessary to say that, in growing mushrooms under cover, the task of watering is a very important one ; discretion must be exercised in determining not only when to water, but also how much should be given, and we regard as very essential the item of temperature; ,the bed should never be chilled by cold water. The author of the articles on the Paris mushroom culture concludes his paper' by describing a method of growing mushrooms without manure, which however, has not yet got beyond the region of experiment. He says :~" We have already, seen in the first part of this treatise that the action of materials containing nitrous salts, such as saltpetre, had a great effect upon the development of the mushroom. By fully carrying out this principle, I have succeeded in growing mushrooms without the use of manure by the following process :—Take a cubic yard of old lime rubbish, and reduce it to fragments the size of a hazel-nut. Moisten the mass, and transfer it to your cellar. Against one of the walls make a sloping bed of your lime rubbish, about 2ft. 3in. wide and sft. high, the lower edge being kept in its proper plane by means of thin "boards. Smooth the surface with the hand. Prepare some lumps of spawn until they are fit for use, and plant them in three rows, the first row being Bin. from the wall, the second in the middle, and the third 3in. from the lower edge." The lumps of spawn in each row should alternate with those of its neighbours. The spawning being finished, cover the whole over with river sand, or fine stone dust passed through a fine sieve, so as to form a layer about L|in. in thickness. The sand should be fresh, but not damp.- As soon as the surface of the sand becomes dry, it must be watered lightly with a solution of 20z.0f saltpetre dissolved in 10 gallons of water. It must be watered with great moderation, for any excess of moisture would rot the spawn. At the end of about six weeks the mushrooms ought to begin to make their appearance. By following this inexpensive process, and by renewing the bed in a different part of the cellar from time to time, we may have a plentiful supply of mushrooms all the year round."