each of nearly every one. Good
materials to work with and careful attention to all practical details
should give good returns. The industry is one in which women and
children can take part as well as men. It furnishes indoor employment in
winter, and there is very little hard labor attached to it, while it can
be made subsidiary to almost any other business, and even a recreation
as well as a source of profit.

In this book the endeavor has been, even at the risk of repetition, to
make the best methods as plain as possible. The facts herein presented
are the results of my own practical experience and observation, together
with those obtained by extensive reading, travel and correspondence.

To Mr. Charles A. Dana, the proprietor of the Dosoris mushroom cellars
and estate, I am greatly indebted for opportunities to prepare this
book. For the past eight years everything has been unstintedly placed at
my disposal by him to grow mushrooms in every way I wished, and to
experiment to my heart's content.

To Mr. William Robinson, editor of _The Garden_, London, I am especially
indebted for many courtesies--permission to quote from _The Garden_,
"Parks and Gardens of Paris," and his other works, and to illustrate the
chapters in this book on Mushroom-growing in the London market gardens
and the Paris caves, with the original beautiful plates from his own
books.

The recipes given in the chapter on Cooking Mushrooms, except those
prepared for this work by Mrs. Ammersley, although based on the ones
given by Mr. Robinson, have been considerably modified by me and
repeatedly used in my own family.

My thanks are also due to Mr. John F. Barter, of London, the largest
grower of mushrooms in England, for information given me regarding his
system of cultivation; to Mr. John G. Gardner, of Jobstown, N. J., one
of the most noted growers for market in this country, for facilities
allowed me to examine his method of raising mushrooms; and to Messrs. A.
H. Withington, Samuel Henshaw, George Grant, John Cullen, and other
successful growers for assistance kindly rendered.

WILLIAM FALCONER.

DOSORIS, L. I., 1891.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.--THOSE WHO SHOULD GROW MUSHROOMS 9

Market Gardeners-- Florists-- Private Gardeners-- Village
People and Suburban Residents-- Farmers.

CHAPTER II.--GROWING MUSHROOMS IN CELLARS