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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
My reasons for writing this book are: First, that Mushroom Culture is but little practised in this country compared to the extent to which it ought to be, considering the abundance of the necessary materials in all parts of these islands, both in town and country, and the high estimation in which the Mushroom is held. I now refer to ordinary Mushroom Culture as practised in our best private gardens. I believe it possible and desirable to extend this, the only phase of the Culture that can be cal
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WHERE MUSHROOMS MAY BE GROWN.
WHERE MUSHROOMS MAY BE GROWN.
The places in which mushrooms can be grown may be roughly grouped as follows:—1. In the mushroom-house proper. 2. In sheds, cellars, out-houses, stables, railway-arches, &c. 3. In deep caves, like those near Paris, described further on. 4. In the open air, in gardens or fields, on prepared beds. 5. In gardens, among various crops, without any preparation beyond inserting the spawn. 6. In pastures where the mushroom is not already established. To these I might add another group, illustrat
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
Culture in the mushroom-house being the most practised, and, on the whole, the most important phase of the subject, we will first treat of it. And first of the mushroom-house itself. Its construction is very simple: the conditions to be obtained are equable temperature, secured by thick or hollow walls and by a double roof. Figure 1 shows a house designed for me by Mr. Ormson, the well-known horticultural builder. It is situated at the back of the hothouses, where a flow and return pipe can be r
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
Before we deal with the various ways of growing the mushroom, we will speak of the preparation of the material. As stable manure not only furnishes the nutriment, but forms the very soil in which mushrooms are produced artificially, and also supplies the heat which enables us to grow them to perfection at all seasons, by far the most important point connected with their culture is the management of this. It is very simple, but frequently, even by excellent gardeners, considered to require much m
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
The first thing we have to determine is, What is spawn? Generally, the spawn, or what in scientific language is called the mycelium , is supposed to be analogous to seed, while it really is what may be termed the vegetation of the plant, or something analogous to roots, stems, and leaves of ordinary plants, the visible part or stem, head and gills, of the mushroom being, in fact, the fructification, though in such an apparent preponderance to the other parts. A knowledge of the anatomy and life-
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Heat and Protection.
Heat and Protection.
The temperature of the material of the beds should never, at spawning time, exceed 80 degrees Fahr.—about 70 is the most suitable regular temperature; and that of the mushroom-house should range between 50 and 60 degrees—not lower than 50. Assuming the materials to have been turned once after having heated, and again disturbed previous to being made into beds, they ought to be in a condition for spawning from ten to twelve days after being put together. It need hardly be said that this regularit
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Spawning.
Spawning.
This is the phase of the culture which requires most attention, as to get the spawn to run regularly through the bed is to be nearly certain of securing a good crop. In this respect there do not seem to be so many differences of opinion among mushroom growers. Some, indeed, spawn immediately after the bed is made up; but, except where the materials are such as will not heat to more than 80 degrees, this is uncertain, or in other words bad, practice. The important thing should be to ascertain if
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Soil.
Soil.
As regards the kind of soil used in earthing, it is not of nearly so much importance as is generally supposed; almost any soil will do; but those having heaps of good maiden loam laid by for gardening purposes will prefer to use a coating of that. I believe that any ordinary garden soil would do, and feel certain that it is a mistake to bestow the least trouble on procuring any particular kind of soil from a distance. The beds in the caves around Paris are covered over with a white putty-like su
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Watering.
Watering.
As the materials of mushroom-beds are generally moist, and as but little evaporation can take place in the structures in which they are usually grown, water is rarely necessary, and should not be applied until the surface of bed and soil are really dry. It should then be given copiously, enough to well moisten the bed, and it should be soft water heated to a temperature of 80 degrees given with a fine rose, and steadily and patiently applied equably over the whole surface of the bed. Waterings t
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Vermin in Mushroom Beds.
Vermin in Mushroom Beds.
Woodlice are the greatest pests the mushroom-grower has to dispose of, and the most effective way of getting rid of them is by destroying them with boiling water. The surface of the bed being firm and covered with smooth firm soil, the only likely place to afford these creatures the interstices they usually retire into when disturbed, or when not employed in eating the head of every little mushroom that presents itself, is round the edges of the bed, and in the slit which often occurs between th
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Treatment of Old Beds.
Treatment of Old Beds.
Upon the continuous bearing qualities of a mushroom bed a word may be said. It may savour of the ridiculous to say that a plant growing upon a dung bed may fail from the want of manure. Yet such is literally and positively the fact. Beds become worn out, the produce small and spindly, and we directly do away with them and make fresh ones. Instead of doing this, give the bed a thorough soaking of stable urine and water, at the temperature of 80 degrees, using the urine in the proportion of one pa
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Gathering the Crop.
Gathering the Crop.
Gatherings should frequently take place, especially where the culture is pursued on a large scale. Where there are several beds in bearing, the mushrooms should be gathered every morning. In all cases they should be pulled or twisted out, never cut out, so as to leave decaying stumps in the beds. The holes made by pulling out the mushrooms should be filled with a little fine loam, of which a small heap may be kept in the house for this purpose....
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Cleansing the House.
Cleansing the House.
A word as to the necessity of a thorough annual cleansing of the mushroom-house. The fact that the French cave-cultivators find it necessary to shift from cave to cave, and find that after a cave has been in use a certain time, mushrooms cease to be produced in it, should act as a caution in this respect. In summer, when there is no need to attempt the culture indoors, the house should be thoroughly cleaned out, lime-whited, every surface scraped and washed, and the house freely opened, so as to
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
Mushrooms may be, and are, grown to perfection in many less ambitious structures than the mushroom-house proper. Any species of outhouse will do for the autumn and early winter crops. One of the best crops I have ever seen was grown in a dry and unused coach-house. Mr. Robert Fish grows all his crops in a long, low, rude thatched shed, open in front—the beds flat, in a continuous line against a wall, and enclosed by a low board. Mr. Cuthill, who wrote on mushrooms, and who used to grow them very
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
The most extensive and successful culture of mushrooms in existence is carried on in widely-ramifying caves far beneath the surface in the vicinity of Paris. To give the reader as good an idea of it as I can we must visit one of the great “Mushroom caves” at Montrouge, just outside the fortifications of Paris, on the southern side. The surface of the ground is mostly cropped with wheat; but here and there lie, ready to be transported to Paris, blocks of white stone, which have recently been brou
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
Mushrooms may be grown with ease in the open air in gardens; and this is a phase of the culture with which gardeners are not by any means sufficiently conversant. In fact, mushroom-culture in the open air in private gardens may be said not to exist at present, so very rarely is it seen. In a little pamphlet on mushroom-growing that has lately appeared I find it stated that mushrooms may be grown out of doors “in summer,” but nothing about them being grown in the open air in winter. The Paris gro
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
This is a phase of culture which may be pursued to great advantage in every private garden, almost without cost and attention. The low ridge-like hotbeds, for example, made for both long and short prickly cucumbers, gourds, marrows, &c., are admirably suited for growing a crop of mushrooms under the leaves of the subjects for which they were made. If the spawn be inserted soon after the beds are made, or at any convenient time in early summer, the beds will come into bearing in due cours
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
Notwithstanding the extreme abundance of the common mushroom in the meadows and pastures of the British islands, and probably in similar positions all the world over, it is scarce in many situations, and, it may be, not a few persons would be willing to make it of more frequent occurrence in their fields. There is an opinion not uncommon that this cannot be done; that the mushroom is, to a great extent, a creature of chance, and that it cannot be cultivated. This is not a philosophical notion: t
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Agaricus campestris (True Meadow Mushroom).
Agaricus campestris (True Meadow Mushroom).
The common meadow mushroom varies considerably, but, “common to all are a fleshy pileus , which is sometimes smooth, sometimes scaly, in colour white, or of different shades of tawny, fuliginous, or brown; gills free, at first pallid, then flesh-coloured, then pink, next purple, at length tawny-black; the stem white, full, firm, varying in shape, furnished with a white persistent ring; the spores brown-black, and a volva which is very fugacious .”— Badham’s Esculent Funguses of England. There is
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Agaricus arvensis (Horse-Mushroom).
Agaricus arvensis (Horse-Mushroom).
“ Pileus fleshy, obtusely conico-campanulate, then expanded, at first floccose, then smooth, even, or rivulose; stem hollow, with a floccose pith; ring broad, pendulous, double, the outer split in rays; gills free, wider in front, at first dirty white, then brown, tinged with pink.”— Berkeley’s Outlines of British Fungology. “This species is very nearly allied to the meadow mushroom, and frequently grows with it, but it is coarser, and has not the delicious flavour. It is usually much larger, of
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
The following modes of cooking mushrooms may prove useful to some:— To Stew Mushrooms. —Trim and rub clean half a pint of large button mushrooms; put into a stew-pan two ounces of butter, shake it over the fire till thoroughly melted; put in the mushrooms, a tea-spoonful of salt, half as much pepper, and a blade of mace pounded; stew till the mushrooms are tender, then serve them on a hot dish. They are usually sent in as a breakfast dish, thus prepared in butter. Mushrooms à la Crême. —Trim and
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Marasmius oreades (Fairy-ring Champignon).
Marasmius oreades (Fairy-ring Champignon).
Pileus smooth, fleshy, convex, subumbonate, generally more or less compressed, tough, coriaceous, elastic, wrinkled; when water-soaked, brown; when dry, of a buff or cream-colour, the umbo often remaining red-brown, as if scorched; gills free, distant, ventricose, of the same tint as the pileus, but more pale; stem equal, solid, twisted, very tough and fibrous, of a pale silky-white colour. The fairy-ring agaric is a valuable little fungus, and common on almost every lawn. In hilly pastures it g
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Agaricus procerus (the Parasol Agaric).
Agaricus procerus (the Parasol Agaric).
Pileus fleshy, ovate when young, then campanulate, and afterwards expanded and umbonate (blunt pointed), from three to seven inches across. Cuticle more or less brown, entire over the umbo, but torn into patches, or scales which become more and more separated as they approach the margin. Flesh white. Gills unconnected with the stem, fixed to a collar on the pileus surrounding its top. Ring persistent, loose on the stem. Stem six or eight inches high, tapering upwards from a pear-like bulb at the
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Coprinus comatus (the Maned Agaric).
Coprinus comatus (the Maned Agaric).
Pileus cylindrical, obtuse, campanulate, fleshy in the centre, but very thin towards the margin. The external surface soon torn up into fleecy scales, with the exception of a cap at the top. Gills free, linear, and crowded. Quite white when young, becoming rose-coloured, sepia, and then black, from the margin upwards. They then expand quickly, curl up in shreds, and deliquesce into a black inky fluid which stains the ground. Stem of a pure white, four to five inches high, contracting at the top,
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Agaricus gambosus (the True St. George’s Mushroom).
Agaricus gambosus (the True St. George’s Mushroom).
Pileus thick and fleshy, convex at first, often lobed, becoming undulated and irregular, expanding unequally; the margin more or less involute, and at first flocculose; from three to four inches across; of a light yellow colour in the centre, fading to almost opaque white at the edges; it is soft to the touch; more or less tuberculated, and often presenting cracks. Gills yellowish-white, watery, narrow, marginate, annexed to the stem with a little tooth: they are very numerous and irregular, wit
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Agaricus rubescens (Brown Warty Agaric).
Agaricus rubescens (Brown Warty Agaric).
Pileus convex, then expanded, cuticle brown, scattered over with warts varying in size. Margin striate. Gills white, reaching the stem, and forming very fine decurrent lines upon it. Ring entire, wide and marked with striæ. Stem often scaly, stuffed, becoming hollow; when old, bulbous. Volva obliterated. The whole plant has a tendency to turn a sienna-red, or rust colour. This is very distinctly shown some little time after it has been bruised. It is very common all through the summer and autumn
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Agaricus nebularis (Clouded Mushroom).
Agaricus nebularis (Clouded Mushroom).
“ Pileus from two and a half to five inches across; at first depresso-convex; when expanded, nearly flat or broadly subumbonate; never depressed; margin at first involute and pruinose; occasionally somewhat waved and lobed, but generally regular in form; smooth, viscid when moist, so that dead leaves adhere to it; grey, brown at the centre, paler towards the circumference. Flesh thick, white, unchanging. Gills cream-colour, narrow, decurrent, close, their margins waved, unequal, generally simple
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Lactarius deliciosus (Orange-milk Mushroom).
Lactarius deliciosus (Orange-milk Mushroom).
Pileus smooth, fleshy, umbilicate, of a dull rufous orange, turning pallid from exposure to light and air, but zoned with concentric circles of a brighter hue; margin smooth, at first involute, and then becoming expanded; from three to five inches across. Flesh firm full of orange-red milk, which turns green on exposure to the air, as does any part of the plant when bruised. Gills decurrent, narrow, each dividing into two, three several times from the stem to the edge of the pileus; of a dull ye
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Morchella esculenta (the Morel).
Morchella esculenta (the Morel).
Every one knows the Morel—that expensive luxury which the rich are content to procure at great cost from our Italian warehouses, and the poor are fain to do without. It is less generally known that this fungus, though by no means so common with us as some others (a circumstance partly attributable to the prevailing ignorance as to when and where to look for it, or even of its being indigenous to England), occurs not unfrequently in our orchards and woods, towards the beginning of summer. Roques
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Hygrophorus pratensis.
Hygrophorus pratensis.
“ Pileus convexo-plane, then turbinate, smooth, moist; disc compact, gibbous; margin thin; stem stuffed, even, attenuated downwards; gills deeply decurrent, arcuate, thick, distant.”— Grev. t. 91; Huss. II. t. 40. “On downs and short pastures. Very common. Pileus tawny or deep buff, sometimes nearly white, as in the next. Probably esculent.”— Berkeley....
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Hygrophorus virgineus (Viscid White Mushroom).
Hygrophorus virgineus (Viscid White Mushroom).
“ Pileus fleshy, convexo-plane, obtuse, moist, at length areolato-rimose; stem stuffed, firm, short, attenuated at the base; gills decurrent, distant, rather thick.”— Grev. t. 166. “On downs and short pastures. Extremely common. Mostly pure ivory-white.”— Berkeley. This species, exquisite in form and flavour, is one of the prettiest ornaments of our lawns, downs, and short pastures at the fall of the year. In these situations it may be found in every part of the kingdom. It is essentially waxy ,
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Cantharellus cibarius (Chantarelle).
Cantharellus cibarius (Chantarelle).
When young its stalk is tough, white, and solid; but as it grows this becomes hollow and presently changes to yellow; tapering below, it is effused into the substance of the pileus , which is of the same colour with it. The pileus is lobed, and irregular in shape; its margin at first deeply involute, afterwards when expanded, wavy. The veins or plaits are thick, subdistant, much sinuated, running some way down the stalk. The flesh is white, fibrous, dense, “having the odour of apricots” ( Purton
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Hydnum repandum (Hedgehog, or Spine-bearing Mushroom).
Hydnum repandum (Hedgehog, or Spine-bearing Mushroom).
Pileus smooth, irregular in shape, depressed in the centre, more or less lobed, and generally placed irregularly on the stem (eccentric); of a pale buff or cinnamon colour; from two to five inches in diameter. Flesh firm and white; when bruised it turns slightly brown. Spines crowded, awl-shaped, slanting, soft and brittle, varying in size and length, and of a faint cinnamon tint. Stem white, short, solid, crooked, and often lateral. There is no possibility of mistaking the hedgehog mushroom: wh
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Agaricus orcella (Orgelle or Vegetable Sweetbread).
Agaricus orcella (Orgelle or Vegetable Sweetbread).
Pileus thin, irregular, depressed in the centre, lobed, with undulated borders, from two to three inches across. In colour clear white, sometimes tinted with pale brown on its prominences, and occasionally with a grey centre or even lightly zoned with grey. Its surface is soft and smooth to the touch, except in wet weather, when it becomes soft and sticky. The flesh is soft, colourless, and unchangeable. Gills crowded, decurrent, at first nearly white, then pinkish grey, taking at length a light
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Agaricus prunulus (Plum Mushroom).
Agaricus prunulus (Plum Mushroom).
Pileus fleshy, compact, at first convex, then expanded, becoming depressed in the centre, irregularly waved, and slightly pruinose; from two to five inches broad; surface dry, soft, white, or sometimes grey. The flesh thick, white, and unchangeable. Gills crowded, deeply decurrent, at first white, then a pale dull flesh-colour, or yellowish brown. Spores pale brown. Stem white, solid, firm, slightly ventricose, an inch or more long, and half an inch thick; naked, often striate, and villose at th
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Why we should not eat Funguses.
Why we should not eat Funguses.
The following interesting paper from the Rev. J. D. La Touche was read at a meeting of the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club: — “It is said that at Rome, when a mortal is about to be raised to the dignity of sainthood, the precaution is taken of providing a ‘devil’s advocate,’ who, by pointing out as strongly as he can all the faults of the candidate, secures the fair discussion of both sides of the question, and is a guarantee, moreover, that no unworthy aspirant to such exalted honours should b
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