e. The least tendency to
dryness should at once be relieved by damping the wall and floor
surfaces.

In houses heated by smoke flues, or still more by ordinary stoves and
sheet iron pipes, it may be necessary to dampen the floors and walls
once or several times a day to maintain a sufficiently moist atmosphere,
but where hot water pipes are used and the houses are tight enough to
require but little artificial heat, such frequent sprinkling will not be
necessary. In the case of beds in unheated structures the ordinary
atmosphere is generally moist enough.

=Manure Steam for Moistening the Atmosphere.=--The late James Barnes, of
England, a grand old gardener, writing in the London _Garden_, Vol. III,
page 486, describes his method of growing mushrooms sixty years ago, and
says: "In winter a nice moist heat was maintained by placing hot stable
manure inside, and often turning it over." Mr. John G. Gardner, of
Jobstown, N. J., is one of Mr. Barnes's old pupils and a most successful
mushroom grower, and he now practices this same method of moistening the
atmosphere by hot manure steam. See page 21.

In damping the floors of the mushroom house, as well as the beds, I use
a medium-sized watering pot and fine rose; but in sprinkling the walls
and other parts not readily accessible by the watering pot I use a
common garden syringe.

CHAPTER XVII.

GATHERING AND MARKETING MUSHROOMS.

This is an important point in the cultivation of this esculent, and
should be attended to with painstaking discretion.

When mushrooms are fit to pick depends upon several conditions; for
instance, whether for market or for home use, and if for the latter,
whether they are wanted for soups or stews. For fresh and attractive
appearance and best appreciation in the market, pick them when they are
plump and fresh and just before the frill connecting the cap with the
stem breaks apart. The French mushrooms should always be gathered before
the frill bursts; the English mushrooms also look best when gathered at
this time, but they are admissible if gathered when the frill begins to
burst and before the cap has opened out flat. If the mushrooms display a
tendency to produce long stems pick them somewhat earlier, soon enough
to get them with short shanks, for long stems are disliked in market;
so, too, are dark or discolored or old mushrooms of any sort. Sometimes
we may not have enough mushrooms ready at one gathering to make it
worth while