LITTLE INDUSTRIES FOR WOMEN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6132, 19 March 1898, Page 3

LITTLE INDUSTRIES FOR WOMEN.

THE GROWING OF MUSHROOMS. (By Mart/ Gaunt in the Avgus.) There is one vegetable, one of the lowest forms of: plant life, that will bring as much money as many a frnit that requires ten times the trouble to grow, and yet which, in this colony, is almost totally neglected. I refer to the humble mushroom. This edible is very heavy for its size, its market price, even in the height of the season, seldom falls below 2d a lb, and when it first comes in it is worth 6d a lb. As yet, people are chary of buying the mushroom out of season, but once let it be known they can be supplied fresh and wholesome such a dainty as this fungus, I doubt not, contracts might be entered into to supply the hotels and restaurants at a price that would well repay the grower. You do not require much land for your mushroom farm. It must be cultivated under shelter, and any outhouse or shed where the rain can be kept out will answer admirably. Indeed, it may be grown in any old boxes of the required depth, and the capital required to make a start will be but small. Given the outhouse, I should say something under £1 would start the farm in going order. This form of farming is easiest started close to a town, because there horse droppings, the most necessary adjunct, are a nuisance, and often may be had for the taking away. The collecting of the manure will, I think, be the only expense of any importance, as of course a boy must be employed to bring it in from, the stables. Old boxes may be used for beds, but the best way is to build up in the outhouse beds one on top of another, like berths on shipboard, beginning on the floor.. Each bed is made of shelving, and should be 4ft wide by 10in deep. The shelves ready, the next thing is to fill them with prepared soil. This must be made by the grower of horse droppings procured fresh evory day, and to every barrow-load add the same weight of loam or soil of any kind that has not been manured, the danger of old manure and manured soil being that it may contain spurious fungi. The manure and the soil must be mixed together day by day as the former can be procured. Tho heap, too, must be turned every day, so that it does not heat too violently until you have enough to make a bed the size required. Then spread a thin layer- of your soil over your bed and pound it down very hard and firm, then another thin layer pounded hard with a brick or mullet, and so on xmtil it is Bin in depth, no more and no less, because if it is more it heats too violently, and if it is less it is likely not to heat enough. Put a thermometer into the bed, and in a day or two it will have run up considerably over lOOdeg. Wait till it has fallen to 90degdeg or 95deg, and then with a sharp stick make holes 4in in depth all over the bed 12in apart each way. Into each of these holes put a piece of spawn about the size of a hen's ejyg, and cover up the hole again, so that the surface is just as level aad firm as it was before the spawn was inserted. Let it remain now for ten or twelve clays — this is most important — and then spread evenly over the bed 2in of fresh loam, which firm down with the back of a spade, and ?over this put 3in or 4in of hay or straw. Then the crop is planted. A, most successful grower, instead of putting on loam ten days after the spawn has been inserted, puts on compact sods 2in deep with the grass side down, and this, Henderson, the American authority, thinks, may possibly be the better way, but as sods are not always ijrocurable, I give the simpler method. These directions must be carried out faithfully in every little detail if success is to be attained. If you can maintain a uniform temperature of 60deg bo much tlie better, but as this is hardly likely, I may state that mushrooms will grow at any temperature that ranges between 50deg and 60deg, so that they should easily be raised in this part of the world during the winter months. The bed should never be made very wet, but if it seems very dry, a little tepid water heated to lOOdeg, may be sprinkled over it. A hair brush dippod in water will answer capitally as a sprinkler. Six or seven weeks after planting yo\i may expect to gather the first crop, which is ready when the mushrooms are about 3in in diameter. They must be gathered very gently, taking care to disturb as little as possible the brood at the foot of each, and they must be pulled, not cut, as the stalk, left behind after cutting, rots and destroys the young brood. The crop will last about three weeks, and then about half an inch of fresh soil may be spread over the bed and beaten down with the spade. This is gently watered when dry, and a second crop of mushrooms, often better than the first, may be expected a month later. The spawn may be bought in bags at 3s 6d each, or in bricks at Is each. The mushroom does not travel well, and must be packed very carefully for the market. Probably cardboard boxes, perforated for ventilation, or baskets such as are used for strawberries, only a good deal larger, would answer very well. Peter Henderson, to whom I am indebted for most of my information on the subject, considers there is no difficulty whatever in the growing of mushrooms if these directions are carried out faithfully, and think 3 that a house specially built for the raising of mushrooms, if near a city, should pay 30 per cent on the cost of construction every year. In this colony we should do better still, for whereas they have bitter frosts to fight against in America, th» climate here is so niild that if shelter be given from tho heavy rain the mushroom will grow in the open air. To any girl in want of money I would say try raising mushrooms next winter. Any rough carpenter could make the shelves at trifling cost; or, if that is too much, try one brick of spawn in old wooden boxes, cut clown to the required depth, and for six pence a small boy willprobably gladlj^employ his spare time collecting the tresii manure required. . , avarv One word of advice I would give to every

girl trying to earn her own living. Don't be ashamed of what you do ; be proud of it. Success come 3 far more snrely to the man who is proud of and interested in his work, than to him who is obliged to work secretly and shamefacedly. Another thing, don't try and sell your produce to your friends. Be. sure you have the very best to sell, and sell it in the open market. When you have made a name for yourself as having the freshest eggs, or the finest asparagus, or the best honey, then your friends may come and ask you to sell to them as a favour, and you are independent. If you ask them to buy before, they will consider they are doing you a favour, and no good business was ever built up on those lines. And to build up a good business must be the aim and object of the worker if she would be happy and independent.