New Jersey,
says: "I believe a bed spawned at 60 deg. to 70 deg., and kept at 55 deg. after the
mushrooms appear, will give better results than one spawned at a higher
temperature, say 90 deg.."

[Illustration: FIG. 23. BRICK SPAWN CUT IN PIECES FOR PLANTING.]

=Preparing the Spawn.=--If brick spawn is used cut up the bricks
(standard size) into ten or twelve pieces with a sharp hatchet, and
avoid, as much as possible, making many crumbs, as is the case generally
when a hammer or mallet is used in breaking the bricks. Extra large
pieces of spawn are apt to produce large clumps of mushrooms, but this
is not always an advantage, as when many mushrooms grow together in a
clump they are apt to be somewhat undersized, and in gathering we can
not pluck them all out clean enough so as not to leave a part of the
"root" in the ground to poison the balance of the clump, in cases where
several or many of them spring from one common base.

=Inserting the Spawn.=--When brick spawn is used plant the lumps about
an inch deep under the surface of the manure, and about ten inches apart
each way. If the spawn looks very good, and the lumps are large do not
plant them quite so close as when the spawn shows less mycelium in it,
and the lumps are small. Never use a dibber in planting spawn; simply
make a hole in the manure with the fingers, insert the lump and cover it
over at once, and as soon as the bed has been planted firm it well all
over. Although the lumps are buried only an inch deep under the manure,
we have to make a hole three or four inches deep to push the lump into
to get it buried.

French or flake spawn is inserted in much the same way and at about the
same distance, only, instead of cutting it up into lumps, we merely
break it into flaky pieces about three inches long by an inch thick, and
in planting it in the beds, in place of pushing it into the hole, lay in
the flake on its flat side and at once cover it.

Many growers plant spawn a good deal deeper than I do, but I have never
found any advantage in deep planting. In moderately warm beds, or beds
that are likely to retain their heat for a considerable time, I am
satisfied that shallow planting is better than deep planting. When we
want to mold over our beds soon after spawning them, shallow planting is
to be recommended. But if the beds are only 75 deg. to 78 deg., before being
spawned; then I think deep planting is better than shallow planting,
because the genial