MUSHROOMS
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.