en dried, the cakes have
the appearance of an unburnt brick. The preparation of the spawn, though
a very simple matter, demands the skill and care of experienced
operators. If the work is not well done, the spawn will be of poor
quality, and will yield a meagre crop, or perhaps fail to produce a
single Mushroom. Whether the cakes or bricks are impregnated in the
manner long practised in this country, or direct from the tissue of the
Mushroom, the culture remains the same. Provided that the spawn is good,
it has but to be broken into lumps of a suitable size, and inserted in
the bed, to impregnate the entire mass with the necessary white films.
These will take their time to collect from the soil the alkalies and
phosphates of which Mushrooms principally consist, and this part of
their work being done, the fruits of their labours will be displayed
above ground in the elegant and sweet-smelling fungus that few human
appetites can resist when it is placed upon the table in the way that it
deserves. Experts can readily form an opinion as to whether a cake of
Mushroom spawn is or is not in a fit state for planting, and it will be
a safe proceeding for the amateur to buy from a Firm which has a large
and constant sale; otherwise, spawn may be purchased which was
originally well made and properly impregnated, but has lost its vitality
through long keeping.

==Soil.==--As to soil, it is well known that in a favourable autumn
Mushrooms abound in old rich pastures, and those who have command of
turf cut from a field of this character have only to stack the sods
grass side downwards for a year or two, and they will be in possession
of first-class material for Mushroom beds either in the open or under
cover. But small gardens, particularly in towns, have no such bank to
honour their drafts, and for these it becomes a question of buying a
load or two of turfy loam, or of making the soil of the garden answer,
perhaps with a preliminary enrichment by artificial manure. In the
general interests of the garden, the money for a limited quantity of
good loam would probably be well spent, independently of the question of
Mushrooms. No great bulk is necessary to cover a moderate-sized Mushroom
bed, but the quality of the soil will certainly have an influence on the
number and character of the Mushrooms. As a proof of the exhaustive
nature of the fungus, it almost invariably happens that when the soil is
used a second time it tends to diminish