Page:The Garden Mushroom.pdf/49

( 49 ) time than those made in the middle of Winter, and Spring beds more freely than those of the hot time of Summer.

When it happens that a bed disappoints our expectation, if, upon examination, the spawn appears in life and health, and smells well, you are not to disturb it too hastily, for sometimes, after remaining dormant several months, a bed will break forth all at once into considerable crops. To assist such beds we sometimes, in Winter especially, if the heat appears to be greatly declined, apply a quantity of moderately warm stable litter over the whole, having first some dry litter immediately next the bed, then the warm litter a foot thick over that; which often, by its kindly warmth, vegetates into life the inactive spawn.