im during the winter, if he had a good little bed of
mushrooms, even for his own family, to say nothing about a shilling or
two that he might gain by selling to his neighbours. I can assure him
mushrooms grow faster than pigs, and the mushrooms do not eat
anything; they only want a little attention. Addressing myself to the
working classes, I advise them, in the first place, to employ their
children or others collecting horse-droppings along the highway, and
if mixed with a little road-sand, so much the better. They must be
deposited in a heap during summer, and trodden firmly. They will heat
a little, but the harder they are pressed the less they will heat.
Over-heating must be guarded against; if the watch or trial stick
which is inserted into them gets too hot for the hand to bear, the
heat is too great, and will destroy the spawn. In that case artificial
spawn must be used when the bed is made up, but this expedient is to
be avoided on account of the expense. The easiest way for a cottager
to save his own spawn would be to do so when he destroys his old bed;
he will find all round the edges or driest parts of the dung one mass
of superior spawn; let him keep this carefully in a very dry place,
and when he makes up his next bed it can then be mixed with his summer
droppings, and will insure a continuance and excellent crop. These
little collections of horse-droppings and road-sand, if kept dry in
shed, hole, or corner, under cover, will in a short time generate
plenty of spawn, and will be ready to be spread on the surface of the
bed in early autumn, say by the middle of September or sooner. The
droppings during the winter must be put into a heap, and allowed to
heat gently, say up to eighty or ninety degrees; then they must be
turned over twice daily to let off the heat and steam; if this is
neglected the natural spawn of the droppings is destroyed. The
cottager should provide himself with a few barrowfuls of strawy dung
to form the foundation of his bed, so that the depth, when all is
finished, be not less than a foot. Let the temperature be up to milk
heat. He will then, when quite sure that the bed will not overheat,
put on his summer droppings. By this time these will be one mass of
natural spawn, having a grey mouldy and thready appearance, and a
smell like that of mushrooms. Let all be pressed very hard; then let
mould, unsifted, be put on, to the thickness of four inches, and
trodden down hard with the feet an