MUSHROOM-SPAWN 23 CHAPTER IV. SPAWNING AND AFTER-TREATMENT 33 CHAPTER V. CULTURE IN SHEDS, CELLARS, ARCHES, OUTHOUSES, AND ALL ENCLOSED STRUCTURES OTHER THAN THE MUSHROOM-HOUSE 43 CHAPTER VI. THE CAVE CULTURE OF MUSHROOMS, NEAR PARIS 57 CHAPTER VII. CULTURE ON PREPARED BEDS IN THE OPEN AIR IN GARDENS AND FIELDS 77 CHAPTER VIII. CULTURE IN GARDENS, ETC., WITH OTHER CROPS IN THE OPEN AIR 84 CHAPTER IX. MUSHROOM CULTURE IN PASTURES, ETC. 88 CHAPTER X. THE COMMON MUSHROOMS 95 CHAPTER XI. MODES OF COOKING THE COMMON MUSHROOMS 102 CHAPTER XII. SOME OF THE MOST COMMON AND USEFUL EDIBLE FUNGI 108 MUSHROOM CULTURE. WHERE MUSHROOMS MAY BE GROWN. THE places in which mushrooms can be grown may be roughly grouped as follows:--1. In the mushroom-house proper. 2. In sheds, cellars, out-houses, stables, railway-arches, &c. 3. In deep caves, like those near Paris, described further on. 4. In the open air, in gardens or fields, on prepared beds. 5. In gardens, among various crops, without any preparation beyond inserting the spawn. 6. In pastures where the mushroom is not already established. To these I might add another group, illustrated by the case of a Belgian cook who grew a dish of mushrooms in a pair of old wooden shoes; but practically we can treat of nearly every possible mode of growing the mushroom under the above headings. CHAPTER I. MUSHROOM CULTURE IN THE MUSHROOM-HOUSE. [Illustration: Fig. 1. Mushroom-house at back of hothouses.] CULTURE in the mushroom-house being the most practised, and, on the whole, the most important phase of the subject, we will first treat of it. And first of the mushroom-house itself. Its construction is very simple: the conditions to be obtained are equable temperature, secured by thick or hollow walls and by a double roof. Figure 1 shows a house designed for me by Mr. Ormson, the well-known horticultural builder. It is situated at the back of the hothouses, where a flow and return pipe can be run through for artificial heat. The shelves for making the beds upon are of slate 1½ in. thick, or of stone 2½ in. thick, built into the walls, and into brick piers built in cement. Upright slates, to slide in grooves, are placed along the front of the shelves to keep the beds in. [Illustration: Fig. 2. Ground-plan of preceding.]