A study of mushrooms and mushroom spawn

A STUDY OF
West Chester, Pa.
Copyrighted 1914, by E. H. Jacob
This pamphlet has been written by one who has had a large and successful experience in growing Mushrooms for the markets. It was his misfortune to meet failure after failure at first, due principally to poor Spawn, unfavorable conditions of the beds and other reasons. He is, therefore, unusually well qualified to guide those who desire to grow Mushrooms for home and local use.
It is my desire to give concise, accurate and most reliable information without making any misleading or extravagant statements, and to write in such a way as to be easily understood and successfully followed.
EDWARD H. JACOB
It is acknowledged by all successful mushroom growers that the first and most important thing to be considered is the spawn. No matter how favorable conditions may be, no matter what care is taken in making the beds, selecting the location or composting the manure, if the spawn is not good, mushrooms will not be plentiful and in many cases no mushrooms at all will make appearance.
The writer of this pamphlet spent nine years in carefully studying out the spawn question, and during that period spent thousands and thousands of dollars in experimental work. All of the different makes of spawn obtainable were tested, both French, English and American, with varying results. Sometimes he obtained a reasonable yield of mushrooms and frequently none at all.
The result of all these experiments brought the conclusion that the only reliable method of producing spawn is by a grafting process discovered by Dr. B. M. Duggar while he was connected with the United States Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C.
This method of making spawn is directly responsible for the liberal supply of fresh mushrooms on the market in season. If we had to depend on foreign spawn, as in the past, mushrooms would still be scarce and high.
The grower would rather pick a pound of mushrooms to each square foot of bed surface at an average price of 25 cents a pound than to pick one-half pound (more often less) at 50 cents a pound, which was the rule years ago.