F THE DOSORIS MUSHROOM
CELLAR.]

The fresher the manure is the better, still manure that is not perfectly
fresh may also be quite good. Stable manure may accumulate in a cellar
for a couple of months, and still be first rate. After our hotbed season
is over I stack our stable manure high in the yard, and from June until
August, as the manure is taken away from the stable each day, it is
piled on the top of this stack. My object is to keep it so dry that it
can neither heat nor rot. In August the stack is broken down and the
best manure shaken out to one side for mushrooms, and the long straw and
rotted parts thrown to the other side. This short manure, when moistened
with water and thrown into a heap, exposed to the sun for a day or two,
will heat up briskly. The beds illustrated in Fig. 19 were made from
manure prepared in this way in August.

In the case of quite fresh manure, let it accumulate for a few days, or
a fortnight, even, until there is enough of it to make up a bed, and
then prepare it. Be very particular to prevent, from the first, its
heating violently or "burning" while accumulating in the pile. Beds made
from very fresh manure respond quickly and generously. The crop comes in
heavily to begin with, and continues bearing largely while it lasts, but
its duration is usually shorter than in the case of a bed made up of
less fresh manure. But altogether it yields a better and heavier crop
than a bed that comes in more gradually and lasts longer, and the
mushrooms are of the finest quality.

Some growers use the droppings only, and reject all of the strawy part,
or as much of it as they can conveniently shake out. This gives them an
excellent manure and perhaps the very best for use on a small scale or
in small beds. When mushrooms are to be grown in boxes, narrow troughs,
half barrels, and other confined quarters, it is well to concentrate the
manure as much as possible--use all the droppings and as little straw as
you can. But droppings alone for large beds would take too much manure
and cost too much, and they would not be any better than with a rougher
manure.

Always preserve the wet, strawy part of the manure, along with the
droppings, and mix and ferment them together, and in this way not only
add largely to the bulk of the pile, but secure the benefits afforded by
the urine without reducing, in any way, the strength or fermenting
properties of the manure. Shake out all the rank, dry, strawy part o