Much stress is laid upon stratifying the spawn before using, when dry spawn is employed. About eight days before a bed is to be spawned the dry spawn is spread out in a row on the floor of the cave or cellar so that it may absorb moisture and the mycelium begin to run. At spawning time these cakes or flakes are broken up and used in the ordinary way, and, it is claimed, with a week's difference in favor of the early appearing of the mushrooms. But no more spawn than is necessary for immediate use should be stratified, for it will not bear being dried and damped again.
The chips and powder of the stone which has been taken out of the quarry and which can be had in abundance on the floor of the quarry or on the surface of the ground around the shaft, are sifted, and the finer part saved and mixed with earth in the proportion of three parts of stone dust to one of earth, and with this the beds are molded over. The powdered stone is strongly impregnated with salts, so advantageous to the mushrooms.
In seven to nine days after spawning, the beds are ready for earthing over. This depends upon the condition of the spawn and how well it has run in the manure. Before being earthed over the outside surface of the beds should be covered with white filaments radiating in all directions which give to the beds a bluish appearance. When the bed is in the proper state for being covered with earth the mold is laid on equally and firmly over the surface about three-fourths of an inch deep. It is then thoroughly watered through a fine-rosed watering pot and allowed to settle until the next day, when it is beaten solid by the back of a wooden shovel. The bed now needs no further care until the young mushrooms appear, except a light occasional watering should it get dry.
Fig. 28. In the Mushroom Caves of Paris.
In spacious, high-roofed caves the mean temperature is about 52° F., while in narrow, low-roofed ones it is about 68°. Of course this makes a wide difference in the time of bearing and duration of the beds made in the different caves; those in the warm caves come into bearing sooner and stop bearing quicker than do those in the high-roofed caves. On an average the first mushrooms appear in about forty days after the beds are spawned, and the beds continue bearing for forty or sixty days, but toward the end of that time the yield diminishes very rapidly.
They are gathered once a day, usually about midnight, so that they may reach the Paris market early in the morning. In size the mushrooms range from three-fourths to one and five-eighths inches in diameter of top, and are pure white in color. The workmen always gather the mushrooms by plucking them out by the roots, and never by cutting them; the gatherers have two baskets, carried knapsack fashion on their back; one is to receive the mushrooms as they are picked, the other contains mold with which to fill in the little holes made by pulling the mushrooms out of the bed. In some caves one man gathers the mushrooms and leaves them in little piles on the bed as he goes along, a woman comes after him and places them in a basket, and a man follows her and fills up the holes with earth. Before bringing the mushrooms up out of the caves they are covered over with a cloth to avoid contact with the outer air, which is apt to turn them brown. They are then placed in baskets that contain twenty-three to twenty-five pounds and sent to market, where they are sold at auction as they arrive. Or they may be sent to preserved-vegetable manufacturers, who contract for them at an all round price.
