t is sent by rail. The mushroom growers consider that the
manure from animals that are worked hard and abundantly fed on dry, good
food is the best; the droppings from these are always dry and rich in
ammonia, nitrogen and phosphates. The manure from entire horses that are
worked hard they regard as the best, and, next in value, that from
mules. The manure from horses kept for pleasure, such as carriage and
riding horses, is regarded as poor, notwithstanding the high feeding of
these animals, and the manure from horses fed on grass or roots, also
that of cows, as worthless. Stress is laid on the importance of having a
good deal of urine-soaked straw in the manure, and this is another
reason why manure from draught horses is preferred to that from animals
kept for pleasure, as the bedding of the former is not apt to be kept so
clean as that in aristocratic stables.

The preparation of the manure is conducted near the mouth of the caves
or shafts on a level, dry piece of ground, and altogether out of doors.
As soon as sufficient manure for a pile is obtained it is forked over,
thoroughly shaken up and intermixed, divested of all extraneous matter
such as sticks, stones, bottles, scrap iron, old shoes, and the like we
find in city stable manure, and any dry straw is moistened with water.
It is then squared off into a heap forty inches high and trodden down to
thirty inches high. In this state it is left for about six days, when it
is turned, shaken up loosely, the outside turned to the inside, and all
dry parts watered; the same shallow square form is retained, and it is
again trodden down firm. In about six days more it is again turned,
shaken up, watered, squared off, and trodden as before. In about three
days after this it should be fit for use and may be turned, shaken up
loosely, and dumped down the shaft into the cave and carried to the spot
where the beds are to be formed. Of course these operations must be
modified according to circumstances and the condition of the manure.

In making the beds the ground is first marked off. The first bed is made
alongside of the wall, and rounded to the front; the other beds run
parallel with this and may be straight, crooked, or wavy, as the
interior of the cave may suggest. The beds are all ridge-shaped,
eighteen to twenty inches wide at the base, eighteen to twenty inches
high in the middle, six inches wide at top, and the sides sloping.
Pathways twelve inches wide run between