Mushrooms: how to grow them Part 4

CHAPTER VIII.

PREPARATION OF THE MANURE.

Get as good a quality of fresh horse manure as you can, and in sufficient quant.i.ty for the amount of bed or beds you wish to make. Next get it into suitable condition for making up into beds. This can be done out of doors or under cover of a shed, but preferably in the shed. Out of doors the manure is under the drying influence of sun and wind, and it is also liable to become over-wetted by rain, but under cover we have full control of its condition. All the manure for beds between July and the end of October is prepared out of doors on a dry piece of ground, but what is used after the first of November, all through the winter, is handled in a shed open to the south. During the autumn months we get along very well with it out of doors; after every turning cover the heap with strawy litter to save it from the drying influences of sun and wind. Remove this covering when next turned, and lay light wooden shutters on top of it as a precaution against rain. In the shed in winter the manure is protected against rain and snow and we can always work it conveniently; when the shed is open to the south--as wagon and wood-sheds often are--we get the benefit of the warm suns.h.i.+ne in the daytime in starting fermentation in the manure, but in the event of dull, cold weather, cover up the pile quite snugly with straw and shutters to start the heat in it. Altogether, a warm, close shed would be better.

It seldom happens that one can get all the manure he wants at one time; it acc.u.mulates by degrees. This is the case with the market grower who uses many tons, and hauls it home from the city stables a little at a time; also with the private grower, who uses only a few bushels or half a cord, and has it acc.u.mulate for days or weeks from his own stable. As the manure acc.u.mulates throw it into a pile, straw and all, but not into such a big pile that it will heat violently; and particularly observe that it shall not "fire-fang" or "burn" in the heap. If it shows any tendency to do this, turn it over loosely, sprinkle it freely with water, spread it out a little, and after a few hours, or when it has cooled off nicely, throw it up into a pile again and tread it firmly to keep it moist and from heating hastily.

When enough manure has acc.u.mulated for a bed, prepare it in the following way: Turn it over, shaking it up loosely and mixing it all well together. Throw aside the dry, strawy part, also any white "burnt"

manure that may be in it, and all extraneous matter, as sticks, stones, old tins, bones, leather straps, rags, sc.r.a.ps of iron, or such other trash as we usually find in manure heaps, but do not throw out any of the wet straw; indeed, we should aim to retain all the straw that has been well wetted in the stable. If the manure is too dry do not hesitate to sprinkle it freely with water, and it will take a good deal of water to well moisten a heap of dry manure. Then throw it into a compact oblong pile about three or four feet high, and tread it down a little.

This is to prevent hasty and violent heating and "burning," for firmly packed manure does not heat up so readily or whiten so quickly as does a pile loosely thrown together. Leave it undisturbed until fermentation has started briskly, which in early fall may be in two or three days, or in winter in six to ten days, then turn it over again, shaking it up thoroughly and loosely and keeping what was outside before inside now, and what was inside before toward the outside now; and if there are any unduly dry parts moisten them as you go along. Trim up the heap into the same shape as you had before, and again tread it down firmly. This compacting of the pile at every turning reduces the number of required turnings. When hot manure is turned and thrown loosely into a pile it regains its great heat so rapidly that it will need turning again within twenty-four hours, in order to save it from burning, and all practical men know that at every turning ammonia is wasted,--the most potent food of the mushroom. We should therefore endeavor to get along with as few turnings as possible; at the same time, never allow any part of the manure to burn, even if we have to turn the heap every day. These turnings should be continued until the manure has lost its tendency to heat violently, and its hot, rank smell is gone,--usually in about three weeks' time. If the manure, or any part of it, is too dry at any turning, the dry part should be sprinkled with water and kept in the middle of the heap. Plain water is what is generally used for moistening the manure, but I sometimes use liquid from the stable tanks, which not only answers the purpose of wetting the dry materials, but it also is a powerful stimulant and welcome addition to the manure. But the greatest vigilance should be observed to guard against overmoistening the manure; far better fail on the side of dryness than on that of wetness.

If the manure is too wet to begin with it should be spread out thinly and loosely and exposed to sun and wind, if practicable, to dry. Drying by exposure in this way is not as enervating as "burning" in a hot pile, and better have recourse to any method of drying the manure than use it wet. If, on account of the weather or lack of convenience for drying, the manure can not be dried enough, add dry loam, dry sand, dry half-rotted leaves, dry peat moss, dry chaff, or dry finely cut hay or straw, and mix together.

The proper condition of the manure, as regards dryness or moistness, can readily be known by handling it. Take a handful of the manure and squeeze it tight; it should be unctuous enough to hold together in a lump, and so dry that you can not squeeze a drop of water out of it.

Some private gardeners in England lay particular stress upon collecting the fresh droppings at the stables every day, and spreading them out upon a shed or barn floor to dry, and in this way keeping them dry and from heating until enough has acc.u.mulated for a bed, when the bed is made up entirely of this material, or of part of this and part of loam.

But market gardeners, the ones whose bread and b.u.t.ter depend upon the crops they raise, never practice this method, and that patriarch in the business, Richard Gilbert, denounces the practice unstintedly.

Different growers have different ideas of preparing manure for mushroom beds, but the aim of all is to get it into the best possible condition with the least labor and expense, and to guard against depriving it of any more ammonia than can be helped. See Mr. Gardner's method of preparing manure, p. 22.

=Loam and Manure Mixed.=--Mushroom beds are often formed of loam and manure mixed together, say one-third or one-fourth part of the whole being loam, and the other two-thirds or three-fourths manure; if a larger proportion of loam is used it will render the beds rather cold unless they are made unusually deep. I am not prepared to affirm or deny that this mixed material has any advantages over plain manure; I use it considerably every year and with good results; at the same time, I get as good crops from the plain manure beds. But it has many warm friends who are excellent growers.

In preparing this mixed material I use fresh sod loam well chopped up, and add it to the manure in this way: First select the manure and throw it into a heap to ferment, as before explained; then after the first turning cover the heap with a layer of this loam about three or four inches thick, enough to arrest the steam; at the next turning mix this casing of loam with the manure, and when the heap is squared off add another coating of loam of the same thickness in the same way as before, and so on at each turning until the whole ma.s.s is fit for use, and the full complement of loam, say one-fourth the full bulk, has been added.

In this way much of the ammonia that otherwise would be evaporated from the manure is arrested and retained.

Some growers, when they first shake out their fresh manure, add the full complement of loam to it at once and mix them together. Others, again, Mr. Denton, of Woodhaven, for instance, prepare the manure in the ordinary way and when ready for use add the quota of loam. I use good sod loam for two reasons, namely, because it is the very best that can be used for the purpose, and, also, after being used in the mushroom beds it is a capital material, and in fine condition for use in potting soft-wooded plants. But the loam commonly used to mix with the manure is ordinary field soil. If the loam is ordinarily moist to begin with, and also the manure, there is very little likelihood of any of the material getting too dry during the preparation. And much less preparation is needed, for the presence of the loam lessens, considerably, the probability of hasty, violent fermentation.

Mr. Withington, of South Amboy, N. J., uses rather a stinted amount of loam in his manure. He writes me: "We made up our beds this year with a proportion of loam in the manure, say one part loam to eight parts manure, but have always used clear manure heretofore, and I think the beds hold out longer than when only manure is used."

CHAPTER IX.

MAKING UP THE MUSHROOM BEDS.

The place in the cellar, shed, house, or elsewhere, where we intend to grow the mushrooms, should be in readiness as soon as the manure has been well prepared and is in proper condition for use. The bed or beds should be made up at once. The thickness of the beds depends a good deal upon circ.u.mstances, such as the quality of the manure,--whether it is plain horse manure, or manure and loam mixed together,--or whether the beds are to be made in heated or unheated buildings, and on the floor or on shelves. Floor beds are generally nine to fifteen inches deep; about nine inches in the case of manure alone, in warm quarters, and ten to fourteen inches when manure and loam are used. In cool houses the beds are made a few inches deeper than this so as to keep up a steady, mild warmth for a long time. The beds may be made flat, or ridged, or like a rounded bank against the wall; but the flat form is the commonest, and the most convenient where shelves are also used in the same building.

Shelf beds are generally nine inches deep; that is, the depth of one board.

In making up the beds, bring in the manure and shake it up loosely and spread it evenly over the bed, beating it down firmly with the back of the fork as you go along, and continue in this way until the desired depth is attained. If it is a floor bed and there is no impediment, as a shelf overhead, tread the manure down firmly and evenly; if the manure is fairly dry and in good condition it will be pretty firm and still springy, but if it is too moist and poorly prepared treading will pack it together like wet rotten dung.

Now pierce a hole in the bed and insert a thermometer. There are "ground" or "bottom-heat" thermometers, as gardeners call them, for this purpose, but any common thermometer will do well enough; and after two or three days examine this thermometer daily to see what is the temperature of the manure in the bed. In roomy or airy structures or where only a small bed has been made it may, in the meantime, be left in this condition. But in a tight cellar I find that the warm moisture arising from the bed condenses in the atmosphere and settles on the top of the manure, making it perfectly wet. In order to counteract this, as soon as the bed is made up I spread some straw or hay over it loosely; the moisture settles on the covering and does not reach through to the manure. Beware of overcovering, as such induces overheating inside the bed. At sp.a.w.ning time remove this covering. The bed will then have become so cool (80 or 90) that there is very little evaporation from it, consequently little danger of surface-wetting.

=The Proper Temperature.=--This, in mushroom beds, depends upon the materials of which they are composed, their thickness, how they are built, the situation they are in, and other circ.u.mstances. If the manure was good and fresh to begin with, carefully prepared and used as soon as ready, the bed in a few days will warm up to 125, or a little more or less, and this is very good. My best beds have always shown a maximum heat of between 120 and 125. Had the manure been used a few days too soon the heat would rise higher, perhaps to 135, but this is too warm; in this case I would fork over the surface of the bed a few inches deep to let the heat escape, and after a couple of days compact the bed again. Boring holes all over the surface of the beds with a crowbar is the common way of reducing a too high temperature, and when the heat has subsided sufficiently fill up these holes with finely pulverized dry loam. With loam we can fill them up perfectly, but we can not do this with manure, and if left open they remain as wet sweat holes that are very deleterious to the spreading sp.a.w.n.

A too high temperature in the beds should be sedulously guarded against, for it wastes the substance of the manure, dries up the interior of the bed, and the mushroom crop must necessarily be starved and short.

Provided that the manure is fresh and good and has been well prepared, if the beds, after being made up, do not indicate more than 100 or 110 no alarm need be felt, for excellent crops will likely be produced by these beds. The thicker the beds are the higher the heat will probably rise in them. Firmly built beds warm up more slowly than do loosely built ones, and they keep their heat longer. If the materials are quite cool when built solidly into beds they are not apt to become very warm afterward. But I always like to make up the beds with moderately warm manure.

It sometimes happens that circ.u.mstances may prevent the making up of the beds just as soon as the manure is in prime condition, and even after they are made up the heat does not rise above 75 or 80. In such a case if the manure is otherwise in good condition and fresh, it is well enough and a good crop may be expected. But if the manure, to begin with, had been a little stale, rotten and inert, I certainly would not hesitate to at once break up the bed, add some fresh horse droppings to it, mix thoroughly, then make it up again. Or a fair heat may be started in such a stale bed by sprinkling it over rather freely with urine from the barnyard, then forking the surface over two or three inches deep and afterward compacting it slightly with the back of the fork. Spread a layer of hay, straw, or strawy stable litter a few inches deep over the bed till the heat rises. If the manure had been moist enough this sprinkling should not be resorted to, but the fresh droppings added instead. When it is applied, however, great care should be taken to prevent overheating; a lessening or entire removal of the strawy covering, and again firmly compacting the surface of the bed will reduce the temperature. Some saltpeter, or nitrate of soda, an ounce to three gallons of liquid, will encourage the spread of the mycelium after the sp.a.w.n is inserted; a much stronger solution of these salts can now be used than would be safe to apply after the mycelium is running in the bed.

When loam and manure mixed together comprise the materials of which the bed is made, the temperature is not likely to rise so high as when manure alone is used, but this matters not so long as the materials of which the bed is composed are sweet and fresh and not over-moist. But if the materials are cold and stale treat as recommended for a manure bed, always bearing in mind that it is better to have a cold bed that is fairly dry than one that is wet, or, indeed, a warm one that is wet.

Mr. Withington, of South Amboy, has a good word to say for beds of a low temperature. He writes me: "Our beds kept in good bearing two months, though they have borne in a desultory way a month longer. Our best bed this season was one that was kept at an even temperature. The manure never rose above 75 when made up, and decreased to about 60 soon after sp.a.w.ning. Kept the house at 55."

CHAPTER X.

MUSHROOM Sp.a.w.n.

What is mushroom sp.a.w.n? Is it a seed or a root? Do you plant it or sow it, or how do you prepare it? are some of the questions asked me now and again. To the general public there seems to be some great mystery surrounding this sp.a.w.n question; in fact, it appears to be the chief enigma connected with mushroom-growing. Now, the truth is, there is no mystery at all about the matter. What practical mushroom growers call sp.a.w.n, botanists term mycelium.

The sp.a.w.n is the true mushroom plant and permeates the ground, manure, or other material in which it may be growing; and what we know as mushrooms is the fruit of the mushroom plant. The sp.a.w.n is represented by a delicate white mold-like network of whitish threads which traverse the soil or manure. Under favorable circ.u.mstances it grows and spreads rapidly, and in due time produces fruit, or mushrooms as we call them.

The mushrooms bear myriads of spores which are a.n.a.logous 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 sp.a.w.n which produces the natural mushrooms in the fields, also the sp.a.w.n we find in manure heaps. But we never have been able to produce sp.a.w.n 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." How, then, do we get the sp.a.w.n? By propagation by division. We take the mushroom plant or sp.a.w.n, as we call it, and break it up into pieces, and plant these pieces separately in a prepared bed of manure or other material, under conditions favorable for their growth, and we find that these pieces of sp.a.w.n develop into vigorous plants that bear fruit (mushrooms) in about two months from planting time. When the sp.a.w.n has borne its full crop of fruit it dies.

Well, then, if we can not produce sp.a.w.n from spores, and the sp.a.w.n in the beds that have borne mushrooms has died out, how are we to get the sp.a.w.n for our future crops? is a question that may suggest itself to the inexperienced. By securing it when it is in its most 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 sp.a.w.n we need to take and keep with it the manure to which it adheres or in which it is spreading. In this way it can be kept in good condition for several years and without its vitality being perceptibly impaired.

Keeping it dry merely suspends its growth; as soon as it is again submitted to favorable conditions of moisture and heat its pristine activity returns.

Mushroom sp.a.w.n can be obtained at any seed store. Our seedsmen always keep it in stock, both the brick (English), and the flake (French) sp.a.w.n. It is retailed in quant.i.ties of one pound or more, and as the article is perfectly dry it can be easily sent by mail in small quant.i.ties.

The seedsmen import it from Europe every year along with their seeds. A prominent Boston seedsman writes me: "We get our supply through the London wholesale seedsmen, for the sake of convenience and cheaper ocean freight, etc. Coming with a s.h.i.+pment of other goods and on same bill of lading brings the freight charges down. The low price at which mushroom sp.a.w.n is sold in quant.i.ty can only be maintained with low freight rates, as there is a duty here of 20% on the article."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 21. BRICK Sp.a.w.n.]

By direct inquiry of the leading importers in different cities I find that we import about 4500 lbs of French or flake sp.a.w.n, and 4000 bushels, or 64,000 lbs of English or brick sp.a.w.n, and that fully a half of this whole importation is handled by the seedsmen of New York city.

In New York one firm alone, who make a specialty of supplying market gardeners, has in one year imported 1500 bushels of brick sp.a.w.n. 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 sp.a.w.n at one time, and a neighbor of his bought 400 lbs; this shows what a large quant.i.ty of sp.a.w.n market gardeners require. And the demand this year is unprecedented; some of our leading importers had sold out their supply before the first of November. And it is not private growers so much as market growers who are the cause of this; the market men find there is money in growing mushrooms and they are going into it.

Sp.a.w.n comes in the form of dry, hard, solid manure bricks, and also in the form of flakes of half rotted strawy manure. These bricks and flakes are completely permeated with the mushroom mycelium.

The brick sp.a.w.n is commonly known as English sp.a.w.n, and what is imported into this country is made in England, mostly about London. The bricks made by the different manufacturers vary a little in size and weight; in some 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-fourth inches wide, and one and one-fourth inches thick; it is what the London sp.a.w.n makers call a 9x6x2 inch brick, but it shrinks in drying. In retailing brick sp.a.w.n in this country it is sold by weight and not by measure.

Mill-track mushroom sp.a.w.n is advertised by some of our seedsmen, but what they sell under this name is only the ordinary English brick sp.a.w.n.

One of our prominent seed firms who advertise it write me: "Genuine mill-track sp.a.w.n used to be the best in England, but it has been superseded, although European gardeners still call for English sp.a.w.n under the name of 'mill-track.'" The real mill-track sp.a.w.n is the natural sp.a.w.n 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 sp.a.w.n makers for impregnating their bricks, but nowadays, that horses have given place to steam as a motive power in mills, we have no further supply of mill-track sp.a.w.n for use in sp.a.w.ning our mushroom beds. We do not feel this loss, however, as the sp.a.w.n now manufactured by our best makers will produce as good a crop of mushrooms as the old mill-track natural sp.a.w.n used to do.

The flake sp.a.w.n is what is generally known as French sp.a.w.n, and is imported into this country from France. But the manufacture of "French"

sp.a.w.n for sale, however, is not strictly confined to France. It is put up in two ways, namely, nicely packed in thin wooden boxes, each containing two or three pounds of sp.a.w.n, and also loose in bulk when it is sold by weight or measure.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 22. FLAKE OR FRENCH Sp.a.w.n.]

Virgin sp.a.w.n is what we call natural sp.a.w.n or wild sp.a.w.n; that is, the sp.a.w.n that occurs naturally in the fields, in manure piles, or elsewhere, and without any artificial aid. It is supposed to be produced directly from the mushroom spores, and is not a new growth of surviving parts of old sp.a.w.n that may have lived over in the ground. It is far more vigorous than "made" sp.a.w.n, and sp.a.w.n makers always endeavor to get it to use in sp.a.w.ning the artificial sp.a.w.n. It is seldom used for sp.a.w.ning 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 ma.s.s 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 spread it out to dry; after drying it thoroughly keep it dry and preserve and use it as you would French sp.a.w.n, for it is the best kind of flake sp.a.w.n. In using virgin sp.a.w.n for sp.a.w.ning beds I have obtained larger and heavier mushrooms than from "made" sp.a.w.n, and the beds lasted longer in good bearing, but the weight of the whole crop has not been more than from artificial sp.a.w.n.