Fig. 12. Mill-track mushroom-spawn.
There is a kind of spawn used in some gardens called mill-track mushroom-spawn, which is made in a more simple manner than the preceding. It would seem to be simply spawn that has spread through the thoroughly amalgamated droppings of a mill-track. The material is rathersoft and free in texture, is usually sold in large and somewhat irregular lumps, and is much used by some cultivators.
Fig. 13. Parisian mushroom-spawn.
Finally, we have the French mushroom-spawn, which differs from our own in not being in bricks or solid lumps, but in rather light masses of scarcely half decomposed, comparatively loose and dry litter. This spawn is obtained by preparing a little bed as if for mushrooms in the ordinary way, and spawning it with morsels of virgin spawn, if that is obtainable; and then when the spawn has spread through it, the bed is broken up and used for spawning beds in the caves, or dried and preserved for sale. It is sold in small boxes, and is fit for insertion when pulled in rather thin pieces, about half the size of the open hand; but in separating it, it divides into many pieces, of all sizes, every particle of which should be used. The small particles should be strewn broadcast over the bed after the larger pieces have beeninserted. This applies to the other kinds. In consequence of the open porous nature of the French mushroom-spawn, it is likely to be immediately affected by the heat and moisture of the genially warm manure forming the mushroom-bed, and on that account alone presents some advantages. It has recently been introduced for the first time, and probably will soon be tested by many growers.
Spawn, in the common sense of the word, may be dispensed with by well amalgamating manure, loam, and old mushroom-beds, or leaf-mould containing traces of spawn, and these formed into beds about a foot thick in the mushroom-house, and covered with earth, produce without any further spawning; but the plan is not so simple or advantageous as that more commonly pursued.
There is no necessity for purchasing artificial spawn at all where mushrooms are regularly grown. Nor is there in any case except at the commencement, or to guard against one’s own spawn proving bad. To secure good spawn, we have only to do as the French growers do: take a portion of a bed where it is thoroughly permeated by the spawn and before it begins to bear, and preserve it for future use.
Of the efficacy of this sort of spawn, if any proof were needed in addition to the fine crops the Parisian growers gather, it will be found in the following statement from Mr. Ayres:—
“A short time back, attention was directed to the superior quality of French mushroom-spawn, and as a natural consequence several London seedsmen imported it for sale. Some months back I obtained possession of a stable, and, wishing to grow mushrooms in it, procured a few tons of horse manure, just as it came from the dung-pit of the hotel stables. It was very wet, and consequently when thrown together it heated violently. However, by frequent turning for a week or ten days this tendency was reduced, and then five beds were formed of it, adding one-fourth of perfectly dry soil from a cucumber-house. I say perfectly dry, because the soil had lain in the house for fifteen or eighteen months without receiving a drop of water, and therefore may almost be considered as thoroughly dry. Intimately mixed with the fermenting dung, it had the tendency that I desired—viz., subdued the excessive moisture, and, after the bed had been made up a week, brought it to the temperature necessary to receive the spawn.
“Having great faith in the good qualities of fresh loam from an old pasture for the production of mushrooms of superior quality, I had a quantity dried and warmed. I had a coat of this three inches thick laid over each bed, and then forked carefully in, taking care to mix the soil and dung as intimately as possible. Re-formed and left for a few days the beds attained the necessary warmth; then they were made quite firm, and were ready for spawning.
“For this purpose I had procured two boxes of the French spawn from Messrs. Barr and Sugden, of Covent Garden. It was light, loose, flaky, chaffy stuff, and so dry that I had some fear whether its vegetating power had not been dried out of it. But the spawn had been bought for experiment, and therefore the experiment must be carried out.
“Raking about two inches of the material from the surface of each bed, pieces of the flaky spawn were laid down, at about ten inches or a foot apart, all over the beds; the fine portions of the spawn were then scattered over the beds, patted down firmly with the back of a spade, and then the surface material was returned, and the whole made as firm as possible. In passing, it may not be out of place to remark that spawning in this manner must be guided, or rather governed, by the state of the material of the bed. If it is not sufficiently cooled, it will be safer to make holes in the usual manner for the spawn; but if in a fit state, then I think the broadcast spawning and earthing, as before described, is the best plan. The disturbed portion of the beds having regained its heat, and there being no fear of itsoverheating, the beds were immediately earthed two inches thick with fresh loam, beaten quite firm, and then covered with a thin layer of dry hay.
“Not liking to entrust my chance of mushrooms entirely to the new material, the French spawn, two bedswere spawned at the same time and in the same manner with native spawn. Owing to the large size of the stable, and the unusually cold, piercing weather at the end of the year (1869), the beds lost so much heat that I had some misgivings whether they would not prove a failure; but finding, subsequently, that the spawn was working, I gave each bed (the surface being rather dry) a good syringing with water at the temperature of 80 deg., covered it with clean dry mats, and then returned the hay. The beds are now a sheet of the ‘pearl of the fields,’ some of the patches as large as a cheese-plate, and the whole in most promising condition—so promising that, with proper attention, I have no doubt they will yield a good supply of mushrooms for many months. To secure this continuous bearing, farmyard manure-water and salt, at proper times, should not be spared; while, as soon as the flush of the first crop is over, the beds may receive a thorough soaking of manure-water at a temperature of not less than 80 deg., be re-earthed with fresh soil, and covered down with mats and hay. In this manner we always get a second crop little inferior to the first one, and sometimes much superior.”
SPAWNING AND AFTER-TREATMENT.
Thetemperature of the material of the beds should never, at spawning time, exceed 80 degrees Fahr.—about 70 is the most suitable regular temperature; and that of the mushroom-house should range between 50 and 60 degrees—not lower than 50. Assuming the materials to have been turned once after having heated, and again disturbed previous to being made into beds, they ought to be in a condition for spawning from ten to twelve days after being put together. It need hardly be said that this regularity of temperature can only be secured in properly-formed mushroom-houses. Where mushrooms are grown in these, with double ceilings and close-fitting shutters and doors, almost impervious to external influences, and where fresh beds are made from time to time, little or no artificial heat from pipes is required, though it is as well to have some at command in the case of unusually severe weather, or a break in the succession of beds, which would cause a deficiency of heat from fermenting materials. A covering of hay or drylitter is necessary for beds formed in the open air, and also for beds made in cool, half-open sheds; but not for those in regularly heated mushroom-houses or caves, in which there is a still, steady temperature. It should be about a foot thick, and should be immediately removed when it becomes wet or mouldy. This covering should be applied whenever the temperature of the bed begins to fall. It should not be used in any case where the temperature will permit of dispensing with it, as it is troublesome, and sometimes encourages insects. The heat of a bed may be reduced by opening holes six or eight inches deep with a thick pointed dibber, here and there, but it is only in exceptional cases that this is advisable, and it is desirable to husband all the ammonia and heat of the bed. The earthing over and firming of a bed has a tendency to subdue the heat in it. Where large sloping beds, say three feet deep at back, are made against the wall, I have seen Λ-shaped crates put beneath them at six feet apart, so as to permit of heating them by fresh supplies of manure. It is, however, a plan possessing little claim to general use. It is best not to depend on the hand, as is commonly done, for ascertaining the heat of the beds. Thermometers fixed on sticks of convenient size, to thrust in the beds, are sold, and remove all excuse for vagueness in this matter. Coverings of litter are sometimes useful in “drawing-up the heat” in a bed that has become somewhat chilled.
This is the phase of the culture which requires most attention, as to get the spawn to run regularly through the bed is to be nearly certain of securing a good crop. In this respect there do not seem to be so many differences of opinion among mushroom growers. Some, indeed, spawn immediately after the bed is made up; but, except where the materials are such as will not heat to more than 80 degrees, this is uncertain, or in other words bad, practice.
The important thing should be to ascertain if the spawn spreads through the bed properly. The usual practice is to earth up the bed immediately or very soon after it is spawned, and not a few take no further notice of the bed or beds till the time arrives when the mushrooms ought to appear. A better plan is not to finally earth the bed until the spawn is seen beginning to spread its white filaments through the mass; and should it fail to begin to do this in eight or ten days after spawning—the conditions being favourable—it is then better to insert fresh spawn or to re-make the bed, adding fresh materials if it be found to fail from being too cold. If people generally were to see whether the spawn had “taken” freely, instead of waiting for many weeks, not knowing whether it had or not, there would be fewer disappointments in mushroom culture.
The ordinary spawn bricks should be broken into pieces, say from about the size of walnuts to that of eggs; they do not break up into regular portions. Spawn in the more natural form in which we take it from the old beds, and in which it is used by the French, is ready to be inserted into the bed without any further manipulation. I believe this kind of spawn spreads more rapidly through the beds than our own brick spawn, and is, on the whole, much more desirable. As it is usually very dry it is a good plan to place some of it in the mushroom-house a few days before spawning, so that it may begin to absorb moisture. A dark place in a warm house, or gentle hotbed, would do as well, but in no case should it be done more than three days before spawning time. At spawning this might with advantage be mixed with some that has not gone through this process. A bushel of the ordinary brick spawn will suffice to spawn about one hundred square feet. All spawn should be inserted near the surface, just buried in the materials of which the bed is made. The thin flakes of spawn which the French use, and which are usually nearly the length and breadth of the open hand, are generally inserted into the bed edgeways, or in a direction slanting upwards, so that while one edge of the piece is buried three or four inches in the bed, the other is seen peeping through at the surface. Thus each flake of spawn is exposed to a slight difference of temperature, and, beingthin and spongy enough to be immediately impregnated with the moist warmth of the beds, takes quickly and well. As to any particular mode of inserting the spawn, little need be said; if the bed be beaten so hard as many recommend, and which I do not believe to be at all necessary, a dibber will be required to insert the spawn; if not, it may be readily inserted with a trowel or with the hand. It is a good plan to use a mixture of two kinds of spawn.
As regards the kind of soil used in earthing, it is not of nearly so much importance as is generally supposed; almost any soil will do; but those having heaps of good maiden loam laid by for gardening purposes will prefer to use a coating of that. I believe that any ordinary garden soil would do, and feel certain that it is a mistake to bestow the least trouble on procuring any particular kind of soil from a distance. The beds in the caves around Paris are covered over with a white putty-like substance, which would be sufficient to shake the nerves of any British mushroom-grower accustomed to his coatings of mellow loam. It is simply the fine rubbish from the stone breakage moistened, and smoothly and firmly pressed over the beds. We, if shown this on a bed that had failed, would assuredly attribute it to the “stuff” with which the bed was covered, though finer crops than these little beds yield it would be impossible to find. I notice this subject so that failures may be traced to their true causes, and not attributed to matters which really have but slight influence. The final covering of from one to two inches of loam or other soil should not be applied till the spawn has begun to spread through the bed, but a very thin layer of dryish loam may be placed on with advantage just after spawning has taken place, as it will serve to make the surface of a more equable temperature. It is a mistake to suppose that a deep covering is of any advantage. The final earthing should be of soil sufficiently moist or moistened to permit of its being pressed into a firm surface. However, unless it is exceptionally dry, a mere sprinkling of water will suffice.
As the materials of mushroom-beds are generally moist, and as but little evaporation can take place in the structures in which they are usually grown, water is rarely necessary, and should not be applied until the surface of bed and soil are really dry. It should then be given copiously, enough to well moisten the bed, and it should be soft water heated to a temperature of 80 degrees given with a fine rose, and steadily and patiently applied equably over the whole surface of the bed. Waterings that merely wet the surface and saturate the crevices orlower parts of the bed are of no use. If one drenching is not sufficient to moisten the bed properly, another should be given. The flat form of bed is of course much more easily watered, and is on the whole the best for beds under cover. The position of beds will have a great influence on the quantity of water they require, so that it is almost impossible to give precise directions on this head; but I can scarcely conceive a case in which it will be necessary before six or eight weeks after the formation of a bed, and I have seen fine crops gathered without a single watering having been given. In watering old beds one ounce of guano to the gallon of water will prove beneficial.
Woodlice are the greatest pests the mushroom-grower has to dispose of, and the most effective way of getting rid of them is by destroying them with boiling water. The surface of the bed being firm and covered with smooth firm soil, the only likely place to afford these creatures the interstices they usually retire into when disturbed, or when not employed in eating the head of every little mushroom that presents itself, is round the edges of the bed, and in the slit which often occurs between the bed and wall or sides of the shelves that support it. There they are likely to be found in great numbers, and may be destroyed wholesale by pouring boiling water all along the crack. If the beds be coveredwith hay or litter, it will be necessary to remove this and allow them time to retreat into their hiding places; and if the beds are made in any position that permits of the woodlice hiding in other places than the interstices round them, these places should be sought out, marked, and receive a searching dose of the scalding water all at the same time. It need hardly be added that, as it is not mushrooms, but creatures that rival ourselves in their love of mushrooms, that we wish to annihilate, the scalding water must not in any case be applied to the surface of the bed. If on the surface of old or dry beds, or those from which a good many mushrooms have been cut or pulled, there are any loose hollows or crevices in which the woodlice can take shelter, they should be sought out, cleared of vermin, levelled up, and made firm, so that the enemy cannot take up a position in which we cannot attack him. Should this plan fail, half an ounce of sugar of lead, mixed with a handful of oatmeal and laid in their tracks, will quickly destroy the pests.
The small mite is most destructive in a high temperature, and in summer, Mr. Cuthill says, “the maggot” will not breed in a house where the temperature does not exceed sixty degrees, and it is in hot, dry, and half-neglected houses that this pest is usually seen in summer. At that season there is little need to grow mushrooms indoors, and how they may be produced otherwise in great abundanceis explained further on. The entrance of rats should also be guarded against.
Mushroom-beds come into bearing about six weeks from the time of spawning, and remain in bearing from two to five months, according to the position in which they are made, and the attention paid to them.
Upon the continuous bearing qualities of a mushroom bed a word may be said. It may savour of the ridiculous to say that a plant growing upon a dung bed may fail from the want of manure. Yet such is literally and positively the fact. Beds become worn out, the produce small and spindly, and we directly do away with them and make fresh ones. Instead of doing this, give the bed a thorough soaking of stable urine and water, at the temperature of 80 degrees, using the urine in the proportion of one part to five of soft water, and adding a wineglassful of salt to each canful; then coat the bed with fresh sod, cover it down with mats so as to promote the heating, and a second crop as good as the first may be obtained. In this matter I speak from experience, and Mr. Ingram, at Belvoir, has followed the same plan for many years with the most satisfactory result.
Gatherings should frequently take place, especiallywhere the culture is pursued on a large scale. Where there are several beds in bearing, the mushrooms should be gathered every morning. In all cases they should be pulled or twisted out, never cut out, so as to leave decaying stumps in the beds. The holes made by pulling out the mushrooms should be filled with a little fine loam, of which a small heap may be kept in the house for this purpose.
A word as to the necessity of a thorough annual cleansing of the mushroom-house. The fact that the French cave-cultivators find it necessary to shift from cave to cave, and find that after a cave has been in use a certain time, mushrooms cease to be produced in it, should act as a caution in this respect. In summer, when there is no need to attempt the culture indoors, the house should be thoroughly cleaned out, lime-whited, every surface scraped and washed, and the house freely opened, so as to thoroughly sweeten it.
CULTURE IN SHEDS, CELLARS, ARCHES, OUTHOUSES, AND ALL ENCLOSED STRUCTURES OTHER THAN THE MUSHROOM-HOUSE.
Mushroomsmay be, and are, grown to perfection in many less ambitious structures than the mushroom-house proper. Any species of outhouse will do for the autumn and early winter crops. One of the best crops I have ever seen was grown in a dry and unused coach-house. Mr. Robert Fish grows all his crops in a long, low, rude thatched shed, open in front—the beds flat, in a continuous line against a wall, and enclosed by a low board. Mr. Cuthill, who wrote on mushrooms, and who used to grow them very well, grew his in rude sheds placed against walls. It matters not in the least if the shed be open or ventilated here and there, especially for autumn crops, as I have seen admirable crops in low outhouses searched by every gust, and not heated by flues. The beds in these should always be covered with hay. Mushrooms may be grown in cellars; but cellars being commonly under houses, they are not exactly theplaces to which people like to convey the materials necessary for the making of mushroom-beds. Where they occur away from a dwelling-house, this objection will not hold good. In some cases it might be obviated by making the beds in rough boxes, say 3½ ft. long by 1½ ft. wide, and afterwards introducing them into the cellar. Railway or other arches, or any dry and empty structures, may be used for mushroom-growing.
“The construction,” says Mr. William Ingram, of Belvoir, in a letter to theField, “of efficient mushroom-houses is sufficiently understood by most of our hothouse-builders and by gardeners; but the economical adaptation of places which already exist is a matter which may with the greatest advantage be discussed, as there are hundreds of persons about whose establishments may be found outhouses, cellars, quarries, or sheds, capable of conversion into mushroom-houses, who would be very glad to be taught the method of growing mushrooms, and to have the simple principles that should govern the construction of mushroom-houses explained.
“There are few large farmsteads that are without an unconsidered place which could be readily adapted for the purpose of growing mushrooms; and farmers possess the material at hand, horse manure, which would not suffer great deterioration if employed in first raising a crop of mushrooms. Country brewing establishments have equal conveniences and opportunities. By relating themeans by which I have been for several years able to raise large quantities of excellent mushrooms, in a place originally but ill adapted for the purpose, I may induce some of those persons who desire the luxury of what Soyer called ‘the Pearl of the Fields,’ to turn their attention to the subject of their growth.
“I had a large, open, airy shed at command, but it was liable to be affected by changes in the weather, and was altogether too draughty and cold in winter, and too hot in summer. I built within this shed, with rough fir boards, an inner shed, 18 ft. long, 6 ft. wide, and 8 ft. in height; two receptacles for beds were formed, one on the floor, the other above it: and to give the requisite heat in winter, I passed a flue, formed of 9-in. socket pipes, through the house; with this I can always command an adequate amount of heat. The material of which the beds are formed is chiefly droppings, collected from an enclosed and covered exercise ground. These droppings are trampled by the horses, and mixed with straw broken up with the manure by the passage of the horses.
“When first collected it is piled up in a large heap, in a perfectly dry state, and when wanted for the bed is thrown out, sprinkled with water, and fermented for about a week; while hot, it is taken to the house, and as it is thrown in is mixed with a small quantity of soil of a loamy character, and a barrow-load of leaf soil.It is then pressed into as compact a mass as possible by a rammer or mallet, building it up until it forms a bed 10 in. thick in front and 20 in. at the back. After a bed formed of this description of materials has been thus put together, rapid fermentation takes place; and when the most violent fermentative action has passed, and a temperature of 80° is found in the bed, spawn is put into it by means of a dibber. I employ brick spawn obtained from good makers, but, to vary and possibly prolong the period of production, I introduce a certain quantity of spawn saved from old beds. This is longer in its development than the made spawn, and appears as a subsidiary crop. After the bed is spawned, a covering of compact loamy soil is spread on the surface, 1½ in. to 2 in. in thickness, and well beaten upon it so as to form a smooth and hard crust. A temperature ranging from 50° to 60° should be maintained in the house. A lower temperature abstracts the heat from the bed more rapidly.
“When the mushrooms begin to exhibit weakness, as after the bed has produced a certain quantity they will do, from the exhaustion of the more stimulating portions of the manure, I find it an excellent practice to administer a sprinkling of water in which a handful of salt has been thrown (that quantity of salt to a three-gallon can). Saltpetre, though in much smaller quantities, is equally valuable given in the same way. The practiceI have described relates to the winter cultivation of mushrooms.”
Many instances of perfect success like the preceding could be quoted. Here is one from Mr. W. P. Ayres:—
“You will be glad to hear that we have on the outskirts of this town (Nottingham) a grower of mushrooms (Mr. Cookson, Mansfield Road) who vies with the French growers, especially if the means of growth be taken into consideration. The place he occupies was formerly the pleasure garden of a large hotel, where the proprietor would occasionally, in the summer season, treat his friends and patrons to anal frescoentertainment. For this purpose a range of summer-houses was built, consisting of brick arches, say 12 feet deep, 6 feet wide, and a little more in height. Close adjoining is a small sandstone-rock cellar, which used to serve for drinkables in the summer and potatoes in the winter.
“Some twelve months ago these premises and the house adjoining fell into the occupation of a gardener, who, though he had a licence to the house, fancied he might turn the arches to a better purpose, and hence he devoted them to mushroom beds. As it was necessary that the arches should be closed, a wall about three feet high was built in the rudest manner parallel with their front, but six feet from it, and from that a roof of rough timber was thrown, and covered with asphalted felt. Here, however, was a mistake; for, the building standingdue south, when the sun fell upon it the atmosphere became rather ‘tarry’—so much so that the mushrooms refused to grow in it. That wore off after a time, and from a bed not more than thirty yards square the tenant told me he had cut more than 25l.worth of mushrooms. When I saw the beds they might be considered spent, the flush of early youth was over; but still the crop was most wonderful, especially considering the means at command.
“In the rock cellar the small beds were a pavement of splendid mushrooms, many of them as large over as a cheese-plate, and thick in proportion. In the garden is a barn—four walls with a roof over them, the latter so rude that it was only in fair weather that it could be called waterproof. In this place which may be 25 ft. long by 15 ft. wide, two tiers of beds have been put up, the roof has been made waterproof, a common brick flue put through it, and, at the time I saw them, more promising beds could not be desired. Here again, you will perceive expensive appliances are not necessary for the production of mushrooms.”
Stables and like structures offer capital positions in which successful mushroom culture may be carried out with ease.
If it is possible, and we know it is not only possible but easy, to grow mushrooms in boxes a few feet long and a foot or eighteen inches wide, and the same depth, it isclear that there can be no difficulty about growing them in abundance in such a manner as that shown in the accompanyingengraving. This mode was actually practised with great success by the Baron Joseph d’Hoogvorst, of Limmel.
Fig. 14. Mushroom culture on shelves in stable.
The culture was carried out in neatly fitted-up wooden boxes, so arranged that they might be shrouded with canvas curtains as shown in theengraving, so that at first sightone would not suppose that mushroom culture was carried on there. No evil results as regards the creation of an unhealthy atmosphere accompanied the attempt. The beds were formed much in the usual way from the droppings of highly fed horses. Now there can be no doubt that a similar mode of growing mushrooms could be carried out in the stables or some adjacent building in hundreds of places apart from the garden and the gardener altogether. Given the materials and some position, however contracted, in which to carry out the culture, and both these things are surely to be had almost in every place where there is a stable, the rest is so simple that any stableman or boy could carry it out. We know that these individuals, as a class, are not much given to botanical or horticultural studies, but no doubt the prospect of an occasional half-dozen fresh mushrooms on the gridiron would give them most praiseworthy interest in the culture. The only objection to it is, or might be, that once they were at home in the culture, the gardener would be very likely to fall short of materials for his hotbeds. An empty loft, or any other covered structure could be employed as well as the stable or an empty coach-house. Apart altogether from utilizing the walls of the stable, as the Baron did, empty stalls frequently present an opportunity of growing mushrooms in quantity. These remarks apply to stables in cities and towns, as well as in the country; indeed in cities, particularly in London,stable manure is usually so plentiful that it is much easier to obtain and much cheaper than in the country, so that even those in London having suitable places for growing mushrooms, but not keeping horses regularly or at all, could have no difficulty in procuring abundance of materials.
Fig. 15. Mushroom-bed on rude shelf against wall of cellar.
The French often cultivate mushrooms in cellars as well as in the caves described in thenext chapter. Preference should be given to a dry warm cellar; it should be as dark as possible, and exposed to no draughts. Beds can be made in cellars in many ways. Those made in the middle should always be formed with two sides, while those against the walls should only be half as thick, on account of their having only one useful side. It is also possible to arrange them on shelves, one above the other. For this purpose strong bars of iron are driven into the walls, upon which are placed shelves of the proper size covered with earth, upon which is formed a bed, that is treated exactly as those made upon the ground. These beds are just as productive as any of the other kinds.They may even be made on the bottoms of casks, which should be at least two feet six in diameter; and they are built up in the shape of a sugarloaf, about three feet in height, and the pieces of spawn are placed an inch and a quarter deep, and sixteen inches apart. A barrel is sawn crossways into two pieces, each forming a tub.Holes are made in the bottom of each, and a thin layer of good soil is spread over them inside. They are then filled with good well-prepared stable manure, just like that used in the case of ordinary mushroom-beds, the different layers of dung in each tub being well pressed down. When the tub is half full, six or seven good pieces of spawn are placed on the surface, and the remainder is piled up with manure, which is well pressed down, the operation being completed by giving to the heap the form of a dome. The tubs thus prepared are placed in a perfectly dark part of a cellar, and eight or ten days afterwards the dung is taken up until the spawn is visible, in order to see whether it has commenced to vegetate and develop little filaments. If the spawn has spread, the surface must be covered with soil, care being taken to use only that which is fresh and properly prepared. In this or any like way there should be no difficulty in growing mushrooms: the boxes or tubs could be filled anywhere, and then carried into the spare cellars, &c. In this way objections against steaming manure might in many cases be got over.
Fig. 16. Pyramidal mushroom-bed on floor of cellar.
Fig. 17. Mushrooms grown in bottom of old cask.
Among the many and various structures in which mushrooms may be grown, but which we rarely see utilized for that purpose, may be mentioned all kinds of greenhouses, stoves, pits, and frames. Some of the best crops I have ever seen were in cold greenhouses almost too ruinous to grow anything else. In mid-winter thefloors of all houses in which a genial temperature is kept up for forcing or other purposes, offer excellent positions for producing mushrooms quickly and abundantly. Small ridge-like beds might be made on the floor of these, and, with the genial temperature usually kept up in such places, would probably come into bearing a month or so after being spawned. How often, for example, do we notice the floors of large vineries, in mid-winter or very early spring, quite bare, especially after the vines are started. Now just at that season the genial heat that would be given off from the slightly fermenting materials used for the mushroom-bed is that which would be most congenial to the tender breaking vines, and with a little attention in this way a first-rate crop of mushrooms could always be gathered from the early vinery, and in houses where no artificial heat was applied they could also be grown abundantly. A covering of hay would, however, be necessary in cold houses in mid-winter, to prevent excessive variation of the temperature, and also in spring and summer to prevent excessive drying or scorching of the beds by a hot sun. I have even seen excellent crops grown on the floor in an old lean-to house, the beds covered with a foot or so of hay, occasionally sprinkled with water to prevent excessive heat on the surface of the bed. In small places where every foot of space in the glass-house is likely to be occupied with plants, it is not easy to carry out the foregoingsuggestions, but even if a small early vinery were occupied with plants, it would be desirable and practicable to introduce a series of rough boxes devoted to mushroom culture.
Apart from empty greenhouses altogether, the space beneath the stages in numbers of glass-houses of every type may be utilized for the production of mushrooms. These positions are usually unoccupied, occasionally they are used for storing fuchsias, &c. in winter, but very seldom are they turned to so good account as they might be in the way I recommend. The stage in the small greenhouse is frequently elevated so that there is plenty of room to get beneath it: if at the back or end there is no way of walking readily under the stage, an opening should be made. The only difficulty that could possibly occur would arise from the drip from the plants on the stage above. This, however, can be easily guarded against by spreading a piece of tarpaulin or oil-canvas over the bed or beds. With beds properly made, a coat of dry hay or litter, and a piece of tarpaulin, every owner of anything in the shape of a greenhouse with a stage in it may grow mushrooms throughout the autumn, winter, and spring months, and even in summer by keeping the surface of the hay or litter moist. Of course, if there be room for but one bed, a succession cannot be kept up, and in this case a bed should be made in autumn, which, if well managed, should be in full bearing for a month or sixweeks before and after Christmas. There are, however, numerous spaces such as those alluded to where there is room to make a succession of beds. No person having but one greenhouse need fear much or any inconvenience from the odour of the manure—at least, not after the beds are earthed. The couple of inches of soil over the manure would absorb any vapour given off by the bed.
Wherever the cultivation of cucumbers or melons in pits or frames is carried out, nothing can be easier than to grow large crops of mushrooms after the melons, &c. are cleared away. The spawn may be inserted over the surface of the little mounds usually made for the reception of the young melon plants, and also over the remaining surface of the beds which are generally covered with a few inches of earth. After the melons have done bearing and the haulm is cleared away, the spawn will usually be found to have spread through the deep mass of earth in the beds. As little or no water is given or required while the melons are ripening, a good soaking of tepid water will generally be necessary to encourage the mushrooms to start into profuse bearing. If the season and situation be mild and warm, the lights may be taken off; and if the sun be very strong, the beds may be shaded with canvas or mats. If the season be late and cold it will, on the other hand, be desirable to keep on the lights, and even to cover them in cold weather.
THE CAVE CULTURE OF MUSHROOMS, NEAR PARIS.
Themost extensive and successful culture of mushrooms in existence is carried on in widely-ramifying caves far beneath the surface in the vicinity of Paris. To give the reader as good an idea of it as I can we must visit one of the great “Mushroom caves” at Montrouge, just outside the fortifications of Paris, on the southern side. The surface of the ground is mostly cropped with wheat; but here and there lie, ready to be transported to Paris, blocks of white stone, which have recently been brought to the surface through coalpit-like openings. There is nothing like a “quarry,” as we understand it, to be seen; the stone is extracted as we extract coal, and with no interference whatever with the surface of the ground. We find a “champignonniste” after some trouble, and he accompanies us across some fields to the entrance of his subterranean garden. It is a circular opening like the mouth of an old well, but from it protrudes the head of a thick pole with sticks thrust through it. This pole, the base of which rests in darkness sixty feet below, is theeasiest and indeed the only way by which human beings can get into the mine. I had an idea that one might enter sideways and in a more agreeable manner, but it was not so. Down the shaky pole my guide creeps, I follow, and soon reach the bottom, from which little passages radiate. A few little lamps fixed on pointed sticks are placed below, and, arming ourselves with one each, we slowly commence exploring dark, still, tortuous passages. I have heard that the first individual who commenced mushroom-growing in these catacomb-like burrowings was one who, at a particularly glorious epoch of the history of France, when a great many more brave garçons went to fight than returned from the victory, preferred, strange to say, to stay at home and hide himself rather than form a unit in “battle’s magnificently stern array.” Industrious and discreet youth! You deserve being held up as an example as much as the busy bee that improves each “shining hour.”
Fig. 18. Mushroom-cave, 70 feet beneath the surface, at Montrouge, near Paris, July, 1868.
The passages are narrow, and occasionally we have to stoop. On each hand there are little narrow beds of half-decomposed stable manure running along the wall. These have been made quite recently, and have not yet been spawned. Presently we arrive at others in which the spawn has been placed, and is “taking” freely. The spawn in these caves is introduced into the little beds in flakes taken from an old bed, or, still better, from a heap of stable manure in which it occurs naturally.Such spawn is preferred, and considered much more valuable than that taken from old beds. Of spawn in the form of bricks, such as is used in England, there is none.
Fig. 19. Newly-made bed against wall of cave.
The champignonniste pointed with pride to the way in which the flakes of spawn had begun to spread through the little beds, and passed on—sometimes stooping very low to avoid the pointed stones in the roof—to where the beds were in a more advanced state. Here we saw little, smooth, putty-coloured ridges running along the sides of the passages, and wherever the rocky subway became as large as a small bedroom two or three little beds were placed parallel to each other. These beds were new, and dotted all over with mushrooms no bigger than sweet pea seeds, affording an excellent prospect of a crop. Each bed contains a much smaller body of manure than is ever the case in our gardens. They are not more than twenty inches high, and about the same width at the base; while those against the sides of the passages are not so large as those placed in the open spaces. Thesoil, with which they are covered to the depth of about an inch, is nearly white, and is simply sifted from the rubbish of the stone-cutters above, giving the recently-made bed the appearance of being covered with putty.
Although we are from seventy to eighty feet below the surface of the ground, everything looks quite neat—in fact, very much more so than could have been expected, not a particle of litter being met with. A certain length of bed is made every day in the year, and as the men finish one gallery or series of galleries at a time, the beds in each have a similar character. As we proceed to those in full bearing, creeping up and down narrow passages, winding always between the two little narrow beds against the wall on each side, and passing now and then through wider nooks filled with two or three little beds, daylight is again seen. This time it comes through another well-like shaft, formerly used for getting up the stone, but now for throwing down the requisite materials into the cave. At the bottom lies a large heap of the white earth before alluded to, and a barrel of water—for gentle waterings are required in the quiet, cool, black stillness of these caves, as well as in mushroom-houses on the upper crust.
Once more we plunge into a passage as dark as ink, and find ourselves between two lines of beds in full bearing, the beautiful white button-like mushrooms appearing everywhere in profusion along the sides of the diminutivebeds, something like the drills which farmers make for green crops. As the proprietor goes along he removes sundry bunches that are in perfection, and leaves them on the spot, so that they may be collected with the rest for to-morrow’s market. He gathers largely every day, occasionally sending more than 400 lb. weight per day, the average being about 300 lb.