of no use
whatever. As the leaves must be in a condition to heat readily they
should be fresh; such are easily secured before winter sets in, but in
spring, after lying out under the winter's snow and rain, their
"vitality" is mostly gone. But we can secure a large lot of dry leaves
in the fall and pile them where they will keep dry until required for
use. As needed we can prepare a part of this pile by wetting the leaves,
taking them under cover to a warm south-facing shed, and otherwise
assisting fermentation just as if we were preparing for a hotbed. While
moistening the leaves with clean water will induce a good fermentation,
wetting them with liquid from the horse-stable urine tanks will cause a
brisk heat, and for mushrooms produce more genial conditions.

Mushroom beds composed in whole or part of fermenting tree leaves should
be much deeper than would be necessary were horse manure alone used; for
half leaves and half manure, say fifteen inches deep; for all leaves,
say twenty to thirty inches deep.

While mushroom spawn will run freely in leaf beds and we can get good
mushrooms from them, my experience has satisfied me that we do not get
as fine crops from these beds or any modification of them as from the
ordinary stable manure beds. And we can not wonder much at this,
considering that the wild mushroom is scarcely ever found in the
neighborhood of trees or where leaf mold deposits occur.

=Spent Hops.=--We can make good use of this in one way. If we are short
of good materials for a mushroom bed, we can first make up the beds
eight or ten inches deep with fermenting spent hops, and above this lay
a four or five inch layer of horse manure, or this and loam mixed. The
hops will keep up the warmth, and the manure affords a congenial home
for the mushroom spawn. But we should never use spent hops alone, nor
so near the surface of the beds that the spawn will have to travel
through it.

Spent hops can be had for nothing, and our city brewers even pay a
premium to the manure agents to take the hops away.

CHAPTER VIII.

PREPARATION OF THE MANURE.

Get as good a quality of fresh horse manure as you can, and in
sufficient quantity 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