Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc.

by George Francis Atkinson

Figure 232.—View in Akron "tunnel," N. Y. Mushroom Co. Making up the beds. Copyright.

The workmen then, with forks, distribute the material in this frame. If there is coarser material which has been separated from the finer material, this is placed in the bottom of the bed and the finer material is then filled on top. A layer of material is distributed over the bottom and then tamped down by striking with the back of the fork, as shown in Fig. [232]. In this figure the material is shown to be off at one end of the bed. This was in a section of the mine where it was not convenient to follow the beds in the direction of the pile of manure, so that the material is distributed on from the end of the bed instead of from the side, as is the usual method. After several inches have been distributed in this way and tamped down with the back of the fork, the operator tramps over the material with his feet and presses it down more firmly. Another layer of material is distributed over this, and tamped and tramped down in a similar manner. The operation is repeated until the depth of the manure after tramping down is about seven inches. It is then left for the completion of the curing process and for the lowering of the temperature to the desired point. Usually, after making the bed in this way, there is a rise in the temperature for several days, gradually lowering until finally it reaches the point favorable for planting the spawn.

Where the beds are made successively, one after another, following the windrow of manure, the material used for the first bed removes from the windrow a sufficient amount to make room for the second bed, and in like manner room for the successive beds is provided for as the material is taken for each one, so that the frames are put together and the beds are formed rapidly and easily.

Making ridge beds in caves.—In the making of the ridge beds in caves there are two methods which might be spoken of. One method is the well known one practiced in certain of the caves near Paris, where the material is taken by workmen in large baskets and distributed in rows. The ridge is gradually formed into shape by walking astride of it, as additional material is emptied on from the baskets, the workmen packing and shaping the ridge by pressure from their limbs as they stand astride of the row. In this way the ridges are made as high or somewhat higher than their breadth at the base, and quite near together, so that there is just room in many cases to walk between the beds. In one cave in America, where the ridge system is used to some extent, the ridges are made with the aid of a board frame the length of the bed and the width of the base of the ridge. The long boards of this frame are slanting so that they are more or less the shape of the ridge, but not equal to its height. This frame is placed on the rock bottom, filled with manure and tramped on by the workmen. Then the frame is lifted on the ridge and more material is added and tramped on in like manner, until the bulk of the ridge bed is built up in this way and compressed into shape.

Beds in Houses Constructed for the Purpose of Growing Mushrooms.—Where only the floor of the house is used, a middle bed and two side beds are sometimes formed in the same manner as described in the construction of the house for the tiers of beds, with an alley on either side of the large center bed, giving access to all. In some cases the entire surface of the bottom is covered with material, but divided into sections of large beds by framework of boards, but with no alleys between. Access to these beds is obtained by placing planks on the top of the boards which make the frame, thus forming walks directly over portions of the bed. In some cases ridge beds, as described for cave cultivation, are made on the floor of these houses. The beds are filled in the same way as described for the cave culture of mushrooms, but usually, in the beds made in houses built for the purpose of growing mushrooms, a percentage of soil is mixed in with the manure, the soil being usually mixed in at the time of turning the manure during the process of fermentation. Garden soil or rich loam is added, say at the first time the manure is turned while it is fermenting. Then, some time later during the process of fermenting, another admixture of soil is added. The total amount of soil added is usually equal to about one-fifth of the bulk of the manure.

As this material, formed of the manure with an admixture of soil, is placed in the beds it is distributed much in the same manner as described for the making of flat beds in caves or tunnels. Usually, however, if there is coarse material which was separated from the manure at the first sorting, this without any mixture of soil is placed in the bottom of the bed, and then the manure and soil is used for the bulk of the bed above. This coarser material, however, is not always at hand, and in such cases the beds are built up from the bottom with the mixture of manure and soil. The depth of the material in the beds in these houses varies according to the experience of the operator. Some make the beds about eighteen inches in depth, while others do not make the beds more than eight or ten or twelve inches in depth. Where there are tiers of beds, that is, one bed above the other, very often the lowest bed, the one which rests directly upon the ground, is made deeper than the others.

While it is the general custom to use material consisting of an admixture of manure and soil in the proportions described, this custom is not always followed. In the case of the beds which are made up in the summer for the fall and early winter crop, soil, being easily obtained at that season of the year, is mixed with the manure. Some growers, however, in making the beds in midwinter for the spring crop, do not use any soil since it is more difficult to obtain it at that season. In such cases the beds are made up of manure alone. The experience in some cases shows that the crop resulting from this method is equally as good as that grown where soil has been added. In the experience of some other growers a bin of soil is collected during the summer or autumn which can be used in the winter for mixing in with the manure and making the beds for the spring crop. Where sod is used this is collected in pastures or fence rows in June, piled, and allowed to rot during the summer.

In distributing the material in the beds, the methods of packing it vary according to the wishes or experience of the grower. It is often recommended to pack the material very firmly. The feeling that this must be packed very thinly has led to the disuse of beds in tiers by some, because it is rather difficult to pack the material down very firmly where one bed lies so closely above another. Where the practice is followed of packing the material very firmly in the bed, some instrument in the form of a maul is used to tamp it down. Where there are tiers of beds an instrument of this kind cannot well be used. Here a brick or a similar heavy and small instrument is used in the hand, and the bed is thus pounded down firmly. This is a tedious and laborious operation. Many growers do not regard it as essential that the beds should be very firmly packed. In such cases the material is distributed on the beds and the successive layers are tamped down as firmly as can well be done with the back of a fork or an ordinary potato digger, which can be wielded with the two hands in between the beds. In the experience of these growers the results seem to be just as good as where the beds are more firmly packed down.