papers. This
peat moss is a comparatively new thing in this country, and is used in
place of straw for bedding horses. It is a great absorbent and soaks up
much of the urine that, were straw used instead, would be likely to pass
off into the drains. To this is ascribed its great virtue in mushroom
culture. It should be mixed with loam when used for mushroom beds.

[Illustration: FIG. 20. BALE OF GERMAN PEAT MOSS.]

=Sawdust Stable Manure for Mushroom Beds.=--This is the manure obtained
from stables where sawdust has been used for bedding for the horses. It
is a good absorbent and retains considerable of the stable wettings.
Such manure ferments well, makes up nicely into beds, the mycelium runs
well in it, and good mushrooms are produced from it. But if I could get
any other fairly good manure I wouldn't use it. I remember seeing it at
Mr. Henshaw's place some years ago. He had bought a quantity of fresh
stable manure from the Brighton coal yards, where sawdust had been used
for bedding for the horses, and this he used for his mushroom beds. I
went back again in a few months to see the bed in bearing, but it was
not a success. At the same time, some European growers record great
success with sawdust stable manure. George Bolas, Hopton, Wirkeworth,
England, sent specimens of mushrooms that he grew on sawdust manure beds
to the editor of the _Garden_, who pronounced them "in every way
excellent." Mr. Bolas says: "In making up the bed I mixed about
one-third of burnt earth with the sawdust, sand, and droppings. The
mushrooms were longer in coming up than usual, the bed being in a close
shed, without any heat whatever. They have, however, far exceeded my
expectations."

Richard Gilbert, of Burghley, also wrote to the _Garden_, April 25,
1885: "There is nothing new in growing mushrooms in sawdust. I have done
it here for years past; that is to say, after it had done service as a
bed for horses, and got intermixed with their droppings. I have never
been able to detect the least difference in size or quality between
mushrooms grown in sawdust and those produced in the ordinary way."

=Tree Leaves.=--Forest tree leaves are often used for mushroom beds,
sometimes alone, instead of manure, but more frequently mixed with horse
manure to increase the bulk of the fermenting material. Oak tree leaves
are the best; quick-rotting leaves, like those of the chestnut, maple,
or linden, are not so good, and those of coniferous trees are