he longest unbroken string of
glasshouses that I know of--for the forcing of fruit and vegetables in
winter; grapes, peaches, nectarines, figs, tomatoes, cucumbers, snap
beans, peas, lettuce. This range is divided into several compartments,
to accommodate the different varieties of crops, also so that some can
be run as succession houses. In order to make the most of everything,
market-gardener-like, he doubles up his crops wherever possible, and for
this end he finds no crop more amenable and profitable than mushrooms.
It matters nothing to him whether the house is cold or warm, he can grow
mushrooms in it anyway, and in order to be master of the situation he
makes his mushroom beds in hotbed frames inside the greenhouses. By
attending to ventilating or keeping close, or covering up or leaving
bare, he can properly regulate the temperature of the mushroom bed, no
matter how hot or cold the atmosphere of the greenhouse may be. In the
same way--by shading the panes or unshading them--he governs the light
admitted to the mushrooms.

The greenhouses in which the mushrooms are grown are orchard houses,
that is, glasshouses in which peach and nectarine trees are grown and
forced. As these trees fruit and finish their growth early, it is
necessary that they be kept as cool and inactive as possible in the fall
and early winter, and started again into growth in late winter. In the
fall, therefore, the fermenting material being confined in frames
retains warmth enough for the proper development of the mushrooms, and
as the winter advances and the heat in the frames begins to wane it
becomes necessary to begin heating the greenhouses in order to start the
trees into bloom and growth, and thus are provided very favorable
conditions for the continued production of the mushroom crop.

[Illustration: FIG. 14. MUSHROOMS ON GREENHOUSE BENCHES UNDER TOMATOES.]

The frames used are common hotbed box frames seven feet wide and
carrying three and one-half feet wide sashes. A string of them is run
along the middle of the greenhouses, for greenhouse after greenhouse is
occupied by them. They are flat upon the floor, and in the early part of
the season alone in the greenhouses. But as the winter advances a
temporary staging is erected over these frames, on which spiraeas, peas,
beans, or other flowers or vegetables are to be grown. These love the
light and a position near the glass, whereas the mushrooms grow
perfectly well in the dark quar