GROWING MUSHROOMS IN THE FIELDS.
Under suitable conditions we can grow mushrooms easily and abundantly in
the open fields, and the planting of the spawn is all the trouble they
will cause us. During the late summer and fall months mushrooms often
appear spontaneously and in great quantity in our open pastures, but in
their natural condition they are an uncertain crop, as in one year they
may occur in the greatest abundance, and in the next perhaps none can be
found in the fields in which they had been so numerous the previous
year. Why this should be so is not very clear. The popular opinion is
that after a dry summer mushrooms abound in the fields, but after a wet
summer they are a very scarce crop; and the inference is that the
moisture has killed the spawn in the ground. This may be true to a
certain extent, but how does it happen--as it certainly often does--that
good spawn planted by hand in the fields in early summer will produce
mushrooms toward fall no matter whether the summer has been wet or dry?
At the same time, it is true that a wet spell immediately succeeding the
planting of the spawn will kill a great deal of it.
As a rule, wild mushrooms abound most in rich, old, well-drained,
rolling pasture lands, and avoid dry, sandy, or wet places, or the
neighborhood of trees and bushes. In attempting to cultivate them in the
open fields we should endeavor to provide similar conditions. Then the
chief requisite is good spawn, for without this we can not raise
mushrooms.
About the middle of June take a sharp spade in the pasture, make =V= or
=T=-shaped cuts in the grass sod about four inches deep and raise one
side enough to allow the insertion of a bit of spawn two to three inches
square under it, so that it shall be about two inches below the surface,
then tamp the sod down. By cutting and raising the sod in this way,
without breaking it off, it is not as likely to die of drought in
summer. In this way plant as much or little as may be desired and at
distances of three, four, or more feet apart. During the following
August or September the mushrooms should show themselves, and continue
in bearing for several weeks.
Mr. Henshaw, of Staten Island, who has been very successful in growing
mushrooms in the fields as well as indoors, writes to me as follows:
"You ask me to give you my plan of growing mushrooms in the fields
during the summer. It is very simple. About the end of June, or as soon
as dry weather sets in, we remove the old beds from our mushroom house,
and if there should be any live spawn in the bottom of our beds we put
it in a wheelbarrow and take it to the field, where we plant it in the
open places, but never under trees. In planting, we lift a sod and put a
shovelful of the manure containing the spawn in the hole, then replace
the sod and beat it down firm; this we do at distances of twelve feet
apart. If we have no live spawn from our indoor beds we take the common
brick spawn, and put about a quarter of a brick into each hole,
returning and beating down the sod as already stated. This is all that
is done. If there comes a dry time after the spawn is put in the pasture
we are sure to have a good supply of mushrooms in the fall."
A few years ago Carter & Co., seedsmen, London, sent this to one of the
gardening periodicals: "The following mode of growing mushrooms in
meadows by one of our customers may be interesting to your readers: In
March (May would be soon enough here) he begins to collect droppings
from the stables. These, when enough have been gathered together, are
taken into the meadow, where holes dug here and there about one foot or
eighteen inches square are filled with them, the soil removed being
scattered over the surrounding grass. When all the holes have been
filled and made solid he then places two or three pieces of spawn about
one inch square in each hole, treads all down firmly, replaces the turf
and beats it tightly down. Under this system, in August and September
mushrooms appear without fail in abundance and without any further care.
The method is simple and the result certain. Therefore all who happen to
have a meadow, paddock, or grass field, and are fond of mushrooms,
should try the experiment.... In the case in question fresh holes were
spawned every year."