HOW MANY MUSHROOMS ARE GROWN IN THE UNITED STATES
Conditions vary from year to year, and no accurate estimate is available as to how many pounds of mushrooms are grown in the United States. We manufactured and sold enough spawn last season to grow 2,000,000 pounds of mushrooms, the output of the year having increased by 100,000 bricks over the previous year.
This does not mean that new growers have come into the field, but, rather, the discarding of poor or unreliable spawn by old growers has been general.
It would therefore be reasonable to conclude that from four to five million pounds of fresh mushrooms (aside from field-grown) are now used annually in the United States.
COST OF GROWING A POUND OF MUSHROOMS
The actual cost of growing mushrooms varies according to the yield per square foot of bed surface. If one pound is picked to every square foot, the cost is much lower than when only one-half pound to the square foot is picked.
Growers who are obliged to purchase manure at a distance, pay the freight on it and employ competent men to handle and care for the mushroom-growing plants, estimate the cost of producing mushrooms at 15 to 25 cents per pound.
Those who grow mushrooms for pleasure, and have their own stables, or get manure from a neighboring stable, are at very little expense and could grow mushrooms at less than half the above cost.
The above photograph shows a bed of Mushrooms grown from the Brandywine Spawn. This is no better than may be expected when local conditions are right. The entire house in which this photograph was taken averaged more than one and a half pounds of Mushrooms to every square foot of bed surface. They were grown by Edward H. Jacob, West Chester, Pa.