A dictionary of modern gardening - University Library

MU S 386 M U S
When the outside of the house is
the j
! at
1 and
back i
finished, a floor or ceiling is made over
it, as high as the top of the outside
walls, of boards one inch thick, and
apart, vvith slides, s, to ventilate with
when necessary.
Fig. 102.
standards. The flue to commence
the end of the house next the door,
running the whole length to return
paralleled, and communicate with
plastered on the upper side, e tf, with the chimney; the walls of the insides
road sand, well wrought together, an to be the height of four bricks laid flat,
inch thick; square trunks,/, being leltiand six inches wide; this will allow a
in the ceiling nine inches in diameter,} cavity, f, on each side betwixt the flues,
up the middle of the house, at six feet two ;
Two single brick walls, v v, each five
bricks high, are then to be erected at
three feet and a half from the outside
walls, to hold up the sides of the floor
beds, a a, and form at the same time
one side of the air flues. Upon these
walls, V V, are to be laid planks four
inches and a half wide and three inches
thick, in which are to be mortised the
standards, I k, which support the
shelves. These standards to be three
inches and a half square, and four feet
and a half asunder, fastened at the top,
k k, into the ceiling. The cross bearers,
i i,i i, which support the shelves, o o,
must be mortised into the bearers and
into the walls; the first set of bearers
being two feet from the floor, and each
succeeding one to be at the same distance
from the one below it. The
shelves, o o, are to be of boards one
inch and a half thick ; each shelf having
a ledge in front, of boards one inch
thick, and eight inches deep, to support
the front of the beds, fastened outside
inches wide, to admit the heat from
their sides into the house. The middle
cavity, x i/, should be covered with tiles,
leaving a space of one inch betwixt each.
The top of the flue, including the covering,
should not be higher than the
walls that form the fronts of the floor
beds. The wall itself is covered with
three rows of tiles, the centre one covering
the cavity x y, as before mentioned,
the outside cavities, / t, are left
uncovered.
As the compost, the formation of the
beds, &c., are very difl^erent from the
common practice, I shall give a connected
view ofMr. Oldaker's directions.
The compost employed is fresh horsedung,
which has been subject neither
to wet nor fermentation, cleared of the
long straw, but one-fourth of the short
litter allowed to remain, with one-fourth
of dry turf mould, or other fresh earth :
this enables the bed to be made solid
and compact, which is so congenial to
the growth of mushrooms.
The beds are to be made by placing
a layer of the above compost, three
inches thick, on the shelves and floor,
which must be beat as close as possible
with a flat mallet, fresh layers being
added and consolidated until the bed is
seven inches thick, and its surface as
level as possible. If the beds are
thicker, the fermentation caused will
be too powerful ; or, if much less, the
heat will be insiifticient for the nourishment
of the spawn. As soon as the
beds intimate a warmth of 80^ or 90",
they are to be beat a second time to
render them still more solid, and holes
made with a dibble, three inches in
diameter and nine apart, through the
compost, in every part of the beds;
these prevent too great a degree of
heat arising and causing rottenness.
If the beds do not attain a proper
heat in four or five days after being put
together, another layer, two inches
thick, must be added. If this does not
increase the heat, part of the beds must
be removed and fresh horse-droppings
mixed vvith the remainder. The spawn