Mushrooms

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Mushrooms

 

houses where the beds are made on the
floor only and in mushroom houses or
deep cellars, etc., where it is desirable to
make use of the floor space and, at the
same time to arrange shelves in tiers. It
will be readily understood that the shelf-
bed system will often allow one to multiply
the amount of available space four or five
times.
The Ridge Bed.—This system permits of
& more effective sanitation, and apart
from slightly increasing the floor space,
it does, to some extent, increase the yield
possibilities.
Whatever the type of bed employed,
the compost is taken into the area designed
for the beds, and immediately arranged
and * "firmed" with a compressing board,
to prevent it from becoming loose and
dry. The flat bed should be made about
S-lOin. deep, that is, after suitable com-
pression it should be of this depth.
The ridge beds may be arranged in
groups of two, and it is usual to leave
between each group of two a floor space
of about 10 or 12 in., which will be reduced
to about 9 in. after the process of casing.
Each ridge bed should be about 20-24 in.
wide at the base, tapering gradually to
a top which should not be more than
6 in. across. They may be from 12-14 in.
high. These dimensions will give to the
ridge beds a gentle slope from crest to
floor, which will permit of the production
of heavy clusters. If the slope ia much
steeper, the rmiBhrooms developed will be
smaller, since they will not only be sub-
ject to more rapid drying out, but the
clusters will also pull away more or less
readily from their attachment to the spawn
below, and thus will not reach the
maximum size possible.
Between making and spawning "beds.—
The compost must remain moist when
made into beds. If there is rapid drying
at the surface, it must be sprinkled, but
in & suitable cellar or mushroom house
little attention to watering should be
necessary during this interval. A sure test
of sufficient moisture is to compress some
of the compost in the hand. Under each
pressure it will not be easy to squeeze
from a properly prepared compost, any
drops of water, yet the hand will be quite
moist, This usually denotes a water

content of about 65 per cent. For a few
days after the preparation of the beds,
the temperature may rise, but if so, it wili
quickly decline again. Spawning should
not be carried out until there is a fall to
70° or 75° F.: in fact, spawning at
75* P. is permissible only when the tena.
perature is unquestionably declining,
70" P. is preferable when one is prepared
to maintain, during the growing period,
a temperature of 55° F. in the bouses. If
beds are spawned at lower than 50* E.,
growth will be very slow. In spawning,
lift the compost and insert the piece of
spawn deep enough so that it may be
covered fully 1 in. with manure, taking
care to press the compost well around tie
piece of spawn, to prevent air-holes
occurring. It is inadvisable to "case" or
cover the bed with soil until it is seen
that the spawn is running well. Casing
consists in covering the bed throughout
with a layer of earth (preferably virgin
soil) 1-1£ in. deep. A pure sand or heavy
clay soil is undesirable: the former loses
moisture too easily, and the latter (esperi.
ally where artificial heat is employed) -is
subject to baking. Such soil as is usually
found just beneath a grass sod, is
excellent.
Care after Casing.—The only factor to be
considered after casing, besides tempera-
ture, is that of moisture of the bed and
air. It is fatal to drench the bed with
water, as in this case the spawn is
destroyed, but on no account should tte
bed be allowed to dry out, otherwise the
spawn will not grow near the surface of
the bed and will,not, therefore, produce
mushrooms. The casing soil should be
well moistened by repeated sprinkling with
lukewarm water—not by a sudden drench-
ing—as soon as the beds are cased. The
beds should then be kept merely moist.
If the casing soil is kept moist, there ifill
be little danger of the beds drying <*&
When the mushrooms begin to appear,
more water may be'given.
The  Growing Period.
All conditions being favourable, a bed
of straw-manure compost should produce
mushrooms within four to eight weeks <rf
spawning. However, if shavrng-maaare
compost is used, the beds may take twelve
weeks to bear. In the same way, even