to $5000 a
year clear profit from one acre of mushrooms, and that, too, from ridges
in the open field! There is no other field crop that yields such a large
profit. There they get twenty-four to forty-eight cents a pound for
their fresh mushrooms, here we get fifty cents to a dollar a pound for
ours. But as mushroom-growing there is confined to fall, winter and
spring, those gardeners who restrict themselves to mushrooms only devote
the summer months to making mushroom spawn for their own use, and also
for sale.

Mr. John F. Barter, of Lancefield street, London, the king of London
mushroom growers, writes me under date of Dec. 10, 1888: "I employ men
for mushroom bed-making from August to March; then, in order to keep on
the same staff, I get about 10,000 bushels of brick spawn made up for
sale.... By the sale of spawn I make just half of my living." Now let us
see: 10,000 bushels = 160,000 bricks, and each brick weighs a pound,
thus we have 160,000 pounds. At ten cents a pound (retail price) the
total is $16,000; at five cents a pound (supposed wholesale price)
$8000, or at three and a half cents a pound (supposed manufacturer's
price) $5600.

The manure is obtained from the city stables and hauled home by the
gardeners on their return trips from market. The manure collected after
midsummer is used for mushrooms, and an effort is made to save the very
best horse manure for this purpose. When enough has accumulated for a
bed the manure is turned and well shaken, removing only the rougher part
of the straw, and thrown into a large pyramidal pile to heat; this shape
is adopted as being better than the flat form for keeping out rain. In
three or four days the manure is again turned, shaken out and piled up
as before; after this it is turned every second day, unless it rains,
until it has been turned six or seven times in all. It should then be
ready for making into ridges.

The site for the beds should be a warm, well-sheltered piece of ground,
either in the open field or orchard; much pains should be exercised to
protect it from cold winds. Although a great many mushroom ridges are
made under the partial shade of apple and pear trees, I always preferred
making them in the open ground. The land should be dry and of a slightly
elevated or sloping nature, so that no pools of water can possibly
collect on the surface. Having the ground cleared, leveled, and ready,
mark it off into strips two feet wide and six feet wide al