Page:The family kitchen gardener - containing plain and accurate descriptions of all the different species and varieties of culinary vegetables (IA familykitchengar56buis).pdf/81

 scientific gardeners in this vicinity, within these few years past, and basketsful have been brought before the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in our Winter and Spring exhibitions. The genuine Mushroom is found in Autumn, on rich, old pastures. It has a small, round, brownish-white head, of a delicate pink color underneath the stem is generally from two to three inches high. There are frequent accounts of deaths caused by this vegetable, attributable either to excess in eating, or to a want of care in selecting the pure article, which grows invariably in open fields—such as are overtopped by trees, or growing in the shade, must be avoided; also those that grow rapidly, five or six inches high, bladder-like, or have a bright-red, fine-wrought net-work underneath, and of a disagreeable scent; those possessing such characters, are bad and even poisonous.

Mushroom Spawn.—We copy from the transactions of the London Horticultural Society, the following approved method of making Mushroom Spawn:

“In June or July, take any quantity of fresh horse-drop-pings (the higher fed the better) mixed with short litter, one-third of cow’s dung, and a good portion of mould, of a loamy nature; coment them well together, and mash the whole into a compost. Spread it on the floor of an open shed, to remain till it becomes firm enough to be formed into square flat bricks; which done, set them on edge, and frequently turn them till half dry; then with a dibble make two or three holes in each brick, and insert in each hole a piece of good old spawn, about the size of a walnut,” or the spawn which consists of fine white threads that may be found where mushrooms are growing in pastures. “The bricks should then be left till they are dry. This being completed, level the surface of a piece of ground, under cover, three feet wide, and of sufficient length to receive the bricks; on which lay a bottom of dry horse-dung, six inches thick; then form a pile, by placing the bricks in rows, one upon another, with. the spawn side uppermost, till