down firmly. This is a tedious and laborious
operation. Many growers do not regard it as essential that the beds
should be very firmly packed. In such cases the material is distributed
on the beds and the successive layers are tamped down as firmly as can
well be done with the back of a fork or an ordinary potato digger, which
can be wielded with the two hands in between the beds. In the experience
of these growers the results seem to be just as good as where the beds
are more firmly packed down.

It is the practice in some cases where the bed lies against the side of
the house to build up the material of the bed at the rear, that is, at
the side of the house, much deeper than at the front, so that the depth
of the bed at the back may be eighteen to twenty inches or two feet,
while the front is eight to ten or twelve inches. This provides a
slightly increased surface because of the obliquity of the upper surface
of the bed, but it consumes probably a greater amount of material. It
probably is not advantageous where the operations are carried on on a
large scale, where abundant room is available, where the material for
making the beds is expensive, and it is desirable to obtain from the
material all that can be drawn in a single crop. The same practice is
sometimes recommended and followed in the case of the beds made in
cellars.

In the making of beds with fresh material, that is, with unfermented
manure, as was done by Mr. William Swayne of Kennett Square, Pa., one
season, the coarser material is put in the bottom of the bed, and then
as the manure is distributed in the bed the soil is sprinkled on also,
so that finally when the bed is completed the proportions of soil and
manure are the same as when it is mixed in at the time of fermentation.
In making the beds in this way, should any one be led to attempt it, it
would be necessary to guard against a too high temperature in the
fermentation of this fresh material; the temperature should not run
above 130 degrees. It would also require a longer time from the making
of the bed to planting the spawn than in the case of those beds where
the manure is fermented and cured before being made up. Probably the
total amount of time from the beginning to the completion of the
preparation of the bed for spawning would not be greater, if it would be
so great.

The beds all having been made, they are left until they are in a
suitable condition for spawning. The determination of t