mushrooms, keep the holes filled up with fresh loam, and when the bed
has been in bearing condition for a fortnight sprinkle it over with a
solution of salt, and next day topdress with a half-inch coating of
finely sifted fresh loam; firm it to the bed with the back of the hand,
for it can not be pressed on with a spade on account of the growing
mushrooms.

Is black spot unwholesome? I do not think so. I have never known any ill
effects from eating it. The spotted parts are merely flavorless and
tasteless. But it is a very disgusting disease, and no one, I am sure,
would care to eat eel worms with their mushrooms. Until quite recently I
used to regard the black spot as the mark of some parasitic fungus, and,
acting under this impression, sent affected mushrooms to Dr. W. G.
Farlow, Prof. of Cryptogamic Botany at Harvard University, for his
opinion. He wrote me: "I find that the trouble is due to _Anguillulae_,
and I find an abundance of these animals in the brown spots." He advised
me to submit them to an expert in "worms." I then sent samples to my
kind friend, Mr. William Saunders, of Washington, D. C., who submitted
them, for me, to Dr. Thomas Taylor, the microscopist to the U. S.
Department of Agriculture, and who replied: "I recommend that you use a
sprinkling of scalding water thoroughly over the entire surface of the
bed, especially the portion next to the boxing. The scalding water
should be applied before the buttons appear, but not penetrate more than
one-eighth of an inch below the surface. Anguillulae abound wherever
decaying vegetable matter exists.... The green algae on the outside of
flower pots abounds in the anguillulae."

=Manure Flies.=--This is the name we give to the little flies (a species
of _Sciara_) that appear in large numbers in spring and summer in our
mushroom houses, or, indeed, in hotbeds or structures of any sort where
manure is used, as well as about the manure heaps in the yard. On
account of their habits they are regarded with much ill-favor. They hop
about the house and are continually running over the mushrooms, beds,
and walls, in the most suspicious manner. But, notwithstanding this, I
am inclined to regard them as perfectly harmless so far as injuring the
mushroom crop is concerned, except the fact that they soil the mushrooms
somewhat by their traveling over them with their muddy feet.

In attempting to get rid of the maggot fly I have destroyed large
numbers of these little