Mushrooms: how to grow them

To the general public there seems to be some great mystery surrounding this spawn question; in fact, it appears to be the chief enigma connected with

es which are analogous to seeds, and these spores become diffused in the atmosphere and fall upon the ground. It is reasonable to suppose that they are the origin of the spawn which produces the natural mushrooms in the fields, also the spawn we find in manure heaps. But we never have been able to produce spawn artificially from spores, or in other words, mushrooms have never been grown by man, so far as I can find any authentic record, from "seed." Ho

vigorous condition, which is before it begins to show signs of forming mushrooms, and drying it, and keeping it dry till required for use. But in order to secure the spawn we need to take and keep with it the manure to which it adheres or in which it is spreading.

the brick (English), and the flake (French) spawn. It is retailed in quantities of one pound

edsmen, for the sake of convenience and cheaper ocean freight, etc. Coming with a shipment of other goods and on same bill of lading brings the freight charges

. Brick

market gardeners, has in one year imported 1500 bushels of brick spawn. But the vicinity of New York is the great mushroom-growing center of the country, also the best market for mushrooms in the country. One gardener at Jamaica, L. I., bought 1000 lbs of brick spawn at one time, and a neighbor of his bought 400 lbs; this shows what a lar

so in the form of flakes of half rotted strawy manure. These bric

me cases ten bricks go to the bushel, in others fourteen, and in others sixteen. This last is the commonest sized brick, and weighs exactly a pound, and measures about eight and one-half inches long, five and one-fourt

sh spawn under the name of 'mill-track.'" The real mill-track spawn is the natural spawn that has spread through the thoroughly amalgamated horse droppings in mill-tracks or the cleanings from mill-tracks. It is usually sold in large, irregular, somewhat soft lumps, and is much esteemed by spawn makers for impregnating their bricks,

e of "French" spawn for sale, however, is not strictly confined to France. It is put up in two ways, namely, nicely packed in

lake or Fr

and spawn makers always endeavor to get it to use in spawning the artificial spawn. It is seldom used for spawning mushroom beds because not easy to obtain. Now and again we come upon a lot of it in a manure pile; it looks like a netted mass of white strings traversing the manure. As soon as discovered secure all you can find, bring it indoors to a loft, shed, or room, and spr

place, and not in large bulk, and covered, it will bear a high temperature with apparent impunity, but whenever dampness, even of the atmosphere, is coupled with heat, the mycelium begins to grow, and this, in the storeroom, is ruinous to the spawn. Judging from our natural mushroom crops, the spawn for which must be alive in

not use any old spawn at any price; do not accept it gratis and ruin your prospect of success by using it. It takes three months from the time when the manure is gathered for the beds until the mushrooms are harvested. Can you, therefore, afford to spend this time, and undergo the car

e pretty well interlaced and clouded with bluish white mold or fine threads, and this, too, is good. When the bricks are freely pervaded with pronounced white threads this is no sign that the spawn is bad. Bricks dried as hard as a board may be perfectly good; so, too, may be those that are comparatively soft. Mushroom spawn should have a decided smell of mushrooms, and whatever cobweb-like mold may be apparent should be of a fresh bluish white color, and the fine threads clear white. Prominent yellowish threads or veins

e of bluish-white filaments well fitted together, and giving off a strongly marked odor of mushrooms. All those portions which show traces of white or yellow mold or have a floury appearance, should be rejected and destroyed." Mr. Wright says: "A brick may be a mass of moldiness, and yet be quite worthless; and if the mold has a spott

the more the better, without showing threads. Too many of these to a given space are a sure indication of exhausted vitality, arising generally from the bricks being heaped together when in process of manufacture, before they are sufficiently dried. Healthy bricks are usually of a dusty brown color, and of light weight. Black colored spawn is to be avoided, as a rule, and when the black appearance is very prevalent in a cargo of bricks it is a strong indication that the spawn has not run its course; and as it is not expected to do so a

state of affairs can not long continue. The demand here for fresh mushrooms is so great, the industry of mushroom-growing so important, the price of imported spawn so high, and the quantity of foreign spawn imported annually into this country is so large, that, before long, we hope some one will find it to his advantage to make a specialty of growing mushroom spawn in this country to supply the American market. There is no pract

e seed store. In order to make spawn profitably we must make it in large quantity, and we need not attempt to make it unless we

e best in Europe before we can find countenance in our home market. It is not the shape of the manure brick, its size, fine finish, hardness, softn

AKE BRIC

g by it. He grows mushrooms in the winter months and makes spawn in the summer months; he employs men for mushroom bed making from August until March, then, to keep on the same hands during summer, he makes spawn for sale. He grows for and sells in the London market about 21,000 pounds of mushrooms a year, and in summer makes some 10,000 bushels, equal to 160,000 pounds, of brick spawn for sale. The amount o

ould be made profitably in this country, paying, as we do, $1.50 a day for laborers, and without any certainty of the same men staying with us permanently. He writes me: "Uncertain labor wou

pson, the author of this work, was for many years the superintendent of the Royal Horticultural Society's gardens at Chiswick, near London, and, in his day,

bricks. When the bricks are nearly dry make, on a dry bottom, a layer nine inches thick of horse dung prepared as for a hotbed, and on this pile the bricks rather openly. Cover with litter so that the steam and heat of the layer of dung may circulate among the bricks. The temperature, however, should not rise above 60°; therefore, if it is likely to do so, the covering must be reduced accordingly. The spawn will soon begin to run through the bricks, which should be frequently examined whilst the process of spawning is going on, and when, on breaking, the spawn appears throughout pretty abundantly, like a white mold, the process has g

recipes ar

part, cow dung one-fou

short litter one part, cow dung one

, and sheep's dung, with the addition o

t, cow dung two parts,

oads one part, cow dung two pa

ow dung, and loam

spawn bricks; the loam is added for the purpose of making the other materia

the weather be fine and dry the mass will soon be in a fit condition for molding into bricks, which process can be performed by using a mold in the same way as the brick makers, or, ... the manure may be spread evenly on the floor to a thickness of six inches, and then be firmly trodden and beaten down evenly with the back of the spade. It should then be lined out to the required size of the bricks, and be cut with a sharp spade or turfing iron. In a few days the bricks will be sufficiently dry to handle, when they should be set up edgeways to dry thoroughly, and if exposed to the sun for two or three days they wil

FRENCH (fl

lish translation of M. Lachaume's book, "The Cave Mushroom," and this comment by the editor: "The most complete account of the cave culture of

m English spawn by being in the form of small tufty cakes, instead of in compact blocks. Large mushroom growers, however, always provide themselves with their own spawn by taking it from a bed which is just about to produce its crop, or which has already p

gently watered, and then another double layer of chopped straw and droppings must be laid, trodden down and watered, and so on until the top of the trench is reached. The bed ought to rise above the level of the ground and be rounded off like the top of a trunk. To prevent excessive dampness from heavy rain cover the mound with a thick layer of stable litter. Three months after filling the trench it should be opened at the side or end. If the pieces of manure are well covered with masses of bluish-white filaments, giving off the odor of mushrooms, the operation has succeeded, and the spawn is fit for u

room bed, which is made by tossing the manure about and shaking it up with the hands, after which it is pressed down with the hands and knees. As soon as the layer of manure reaches six inches in thickness we place along the edge a number of lumps of spawn at about one foot apart. These lumps are placed level with the manure on the edge facing the wall. This portion of the surface of the manure ought to be raised vertically, and should lean against the earthen wall of the trench. The other half of the surface ought to slope gently toward the wall, leaving a space of three or four inches between it and the side of the trench, so that it may be trimmed. The lumps of spawn on this surface should be placed a little backward, so that they may not be broken when the bed is trimmed. The bed is then covered with more manure, until t

anure, containing a large proportion of spent horse droppings, treading it down firmly, watering it if it is too dry, and finishing up with a layer of soil, as described already,

ms, in the ordinary way, and spawning it with morsels of virgin spawn, if that is obtainable; and then when the spawn

flakes of manure. Neither is it virgin spawn, nor derived immediately

tent and well worth the additional cost. In spawning the beds I use two pounds of flake spawn to plant the same space for which I would use five pounds of brick spawn, and this gives a capital crop, with number of mushrooms a litt

the best. You see, I do nothing but this mushroom business for a living, so, of course, would use the best kind of spawn for my crop. Generally the French spawn p

than beds in the cellar or mushroom house. And it is odd, but true, that the flake sp