l parts of the
mushroom, but mostly in the cap and at the base of the stem, and
perforate hither and thither leaving behind them a disgusting network of
burrows. The tiny buttons, about as soon as they appear at the surface
of the ground, are infested, but this does not check their growth, and
when they become mushrooms large enough for gathering, unless it be for
a dark looking puncture or tracing now and then visible on the outside
of the caps and stems, there are but few signs to indicate to the
inexperienced eye the presence of maggots. And this is why maggoty
mushrooms are so often found exposed for sale in summer. But in large or
full-grown mushrooms, and especially the white-skinned varieties, their
presence is visible enough. Although very repugnant, however, and
utterly unfit for food, maggoty mushrooms are not poisonous.

But all the mushrooms of summer crops are not maggoty, only a large
proportion of them; the evil begins in April, and increases as the
summer advances, until August, when it decreases, and in October
completely stops--at least this is my experience.

A solution of salt, saltpeter, or ammonia sprinkled over the surface of
the beds does not, in this case, do any good as an insecticide,
pyrethrum powder diffused through the atmosphere, and tobacco smoke,
have been ineffectual. Burning a lamp set in a basin of water with a
little kerosene floating on the surface is a most doubtful operation.
Multitudes of flies are destroyed by this lamp trap, but they are the
poor little innocent "manure flies," and the atmosphere of the house is
vitiated and rendered unhealthy for the crop. I have tried these lamp
traps season after season, and never knew of their doing any good; that
is, the maggots seemed just as numerous in the lamp-trapped cellar as in
the other cellar in which no lamp trap had been used.

Regarding this "maggots" question, Mr. J. F. Barter, of London, writes
me: "During the summer months the outdoor mushrooms get maggoty before
they are big enough to gather, but of course they can be grown in cool
cellars all the year round.... I know of no sure cure for them (the
maggots); of course a slight sprinkling of salt with manure or mold does
prevent, to a certain extent, but it must be used very carefully." Now
my experience is, as I have already said, that it is impossible to grow
mushrooms here in summer, even in cool cellars, without having them more
or less maggoty. As regards the salt and