Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/81

 MUSHROOM MUSIC the proper temperature, bits of a brick of spawn are inserted in it at intervals, and when Mushrooms grown in a Cask. the mycelium is growing rapidly, or the spawn "runs," about two inches of soil are placed upon the bed, and it is then covered with straw; water is applied if necessary, and it should be warmed to the temperature of the bed. Mushrooms appear in six or eight weeks, and are collected when in the button state or larger as required ; it injures the bed to cut the mushrooms, hence they are twisted off. Instances are given of successful cultivation in tubs made by sawing a cask in two, in boxes which are stacked upon each other, upon shelves Mushroom Cave. in a stable, and in other unusual places. In England beds are profitably made in the open air, but with us the extremes of temperature are too great for this kind of culture. Mush- room culture is conducted upon the largest scale in the vicinity of Paris, where there are extensive caves formed by the removal of building stone ; these caves are from 20 to 60 ft. deep and of great extent ; one of them con- tains 16 m. of mushroom beds, and in another the beds measured one year over 21 m. in length. As the plant does not require light, and as these caves have the requisite unifor- mity of temperature, they are utilized by the mushroom cultivators, who, notwithstanding the labor and difficulty of bringing the immense quantity of manure to the spot, find it a prof- itable business. One of the large quarry plan- tations when in full bearing sent 3,000 Ibs. of mushrooms to the Paris market daily. Not- withstanding the efforts that have been made abroad to add various neglected fungi to the food supply, the fact that there are many which are highly poisonous has confined the use of all but the commoner species to a very few enthusiastic amateurs. Unfortunately there is no general rule for distinguishing the whole- some from the harmful ; the colors produced by contact with a silver spoon or by the action of salt have been proposed, but are fallacious, and the only guide to be relied upon is an eye educated to observe the peculiarities of struc- ture, color, &c., which characterize the various species. As a general rule, the wholesome fungi have an agreeable smell and taste, and all those with a repulsive odor and an acrid taste in the fresh state should be rejected. Most of the general treatises upon gardening have a chapter on mushrooms. Descriptions of species will be found in Badham's "Escu- lent Funguses of England " (London), Cooke's "Handbook of British Fungi" (2 vols., Lon- don, 1871), and the numbers of the " Garden- ers' Chronicle " (weekly, London) for several years past. For cultivation, see Robinson's " Mushroom Culture " (London, 1870). MUSIC (Gr. fiovaa, a muse), an agreeable com- bination and arrangement of sounds, and the art of so combining and arranging sounds. It is indispensable to have some knowledge of the nature of sounds before we begin the con- sideration of the manner in which they are arranged and compounded in music. We here give only that information which is essential to the understanding of the subject of this arti- cle, referring the reader to the article SOUND for a discussion of the nature of sonorous vi- brations and of their properties. The more rapidly the sonorous pulses of the ear follow each other, the higher is the pitch of the sound perceived. Thus, the gravest sound which is really musical is caused by 40 vibrations ,a sec- ond, while the auditive sensation the highest in pitch is produced by about 40,000 a second. But the sounds employed in music have not so extended a range ; they are practically em- braced by about seven octaves, extending from 40 vibrations to about 5,000 a second. The gravest sound of an orchestral instrument is the E of the contra-bass, of 40 vibrations a second. Modern pianos and organs indeed give generally the C (of 33 vibrations) below the E of the contra-bass; and some recent grand pianos extend as low as the A (of 27 vibra- tions) in the next lower octave. In the largest organs there is also sometimes a pipe which gives a sound that descends into the yet lower octave, reaching the C of 16 vibrations. But none of these grave sounds below the E of the contra-bass can be termed musical; for the separate pulses which compose them do not