Are vegetables growing up in old pastures, or on land mulched and the
straw partly covered with soil. They are also cultivated in beds for the
purpose. Picked at the right stage, they are a fine article of diet,
almost equalling oysters. The use of the wild ones, however, is attended
with some danger, for the want of knowledge of the varieties, or of the
difference between the genuine mushroom, and the toadstools that so much
resemble them.
Persons have been poisoned unto death by eating toadstools instead of
mushrooms. When of middle size, mushrooms are distinguished by the fine
pink or flesh color of their gills, and by their pleasant smell. In a
more advanced stage, the gills become of a chocolate color; they are
then apt to be confounded with injurious kinds. The toadstool that most
resembles the true mushroom is slimy to the touch, and rather
disagreeable to the smell. The noxious kind grows in the borders of
woods, while the mushroom only grows in the open field. It is better,
however, not to eat them unless gathered by a practised hand, so as to
be sure of no mistake. With the help of one accustomed to gathering
them, you will learn in a few moments, so as to be accurate and safe.
_Mushroom Beds._--Prepare a bed in the corner of the hothouse, or, in
the absence of that, in a warm, dry cellar. The first of October is the
best time. Make the bed four feet wide, and as long as you require. It
should be one foot high perpendicularly at the edges, and sloping toward
the middle; it should be of horse-manure, well forked, and put in
compact and even, so as to settle all alike. Cover it with long straw,
to preserve heat and the exhalations that would rise. At the end of ten
days, the heat will be such as to allow you to remove the straw, and put
an inch of good mould over the top of the bed. On this put the spawn or
seed of the mushroom, in rows of six inches apart. The spawn are white
fibres, found in old pastures, where mushrooms grow, or in old spent
hotbeds, and sometimes under old stable floors. The warmth of the bed
will produce mushrooms plentifully for a considerable time. If the
production diminishes and nearly ceases, it may be renewed by removing
the mould, and putting on good horse-manure to the depth of twelve
inches, and covering and planting as before, and the production will be
plentiful for a number of weeks.