I am glad to find the mushroom is getting to be appreciated in this country. Not many years ago, it was little known or valued, except by a few. Now its price is regularly reported with other vegetables, in the market notes of the New York and Philadelphia newspapers. I have been many years trying to establish a trade, by encouraging the growth of this valuable esculent amongst the people.

The last United States Agricultural Report for 1885, has done good work in describing the edible kinds; as found growing wild in places congenial to their growth; in setting forth the nutritious qualities of these as compared with other food; and also in showing their commercial value as carried on in the old countries of Europe and Asia - from England and France to China and Japan. It appears, as a people, we are behind the age in our knowledge and appreciation of this most nutritious of plant food; for, as compared with flesh or vegetables, it has been found by analysis, we are told, to be superior to any of these, and its nutritive qualities more highly concentrated. But whatever value may be found in the wild or natural growth, it appears to me it is to the cultivated mushroom we must look for our principal benefit or advantage in these Northern States. These can be grown all the year round, with some trouble, cost and expense, of course; but whether for marketing or home consumption, in most cases will now, I think, amply pay the grower.

Twenty years ago, I raised more than I could sell in New York city at any fair price, and I longed for a good market. A few restaurants and hotels, such as the Delmonico Brothers, were my principal customers. Times have changed since, and it appears to me we are only in the beginning of a greater change.

The more general the artificial cultivation of mushrooms becomes, the more they will be appreciated, and, of course, the more in demand. Without a market there is no use in trying to raise them on any extensive scale. Out-door cultivation is of little value in this climate. They must be grown under cover to any permanent advantage. The old-country plans must be modified according to circumstances, and here is where the novice often fails.

Another, and the principal cause of failure is, the want of proper preparation of the manure. I think it is not generally understood that the same manure that will grow a poisonous toadstool today, will, in three or four weeks hence, raise an edible mushroom. No matter how good the spawn is, if planted in badly-prepared material, it will produce a more or less unhealthy - perhaps poisonous - growth.

It is also a great mistake to suppose that mushrooms grow better in the dark than in the light, or that darkness is essential to their growth. In my practice, the reverse is true, and mushrooms grown in the dark will be found both tough and less wholesome than those grown in the light.

At least a little air and a little light are necessary for wholesomeness' sake, as I think I stated to you in a former communication on this subject. This is said with a knowledge of the fact that they will grow in the dark very well, and that we are told the French grow large quantities in underground excavations, quarries or pits.

A certain English writer or compiler has told us very gravely, that salt is useful to a mushroom bed. This is contrary to my practice, and I believe has no precedent in the encouragement of any fungous growth; but the contrary I have proved to be a fact. However, we know that salt sweetens land, and may, in course of time, be favorable to mushroom growth out of doors, but fresh salt is very different. I will not encroach on your valuable space by arguing this question, as everyone may prove it for himself. Let any person put a pinch of salt on the pileus or cap of a growing mushroom, and leave it there for twenty-four hours, and then look at the result. If he thinks it has improved its growth, then I give up; but if it is dead, and looks most disgusting, then there need be no more said, I think, on this matter.

They are now rightly named hot-house mushrooms, and they must have artificial heat for six or seven months of the year, in these latitudes. In the summer they require no artificial heat, but must be grown in a cool cellar or house adapted for the purpose, where the thermometer will not register more than 650; 6o° being their proper growing temperature.

After a practice which extends over forty years, I have concluded that a quart to every square foot is a good yield for a mushroom bed in this country. Some beds will yield a great deal more. Their time of growth in an ordinary greenhouse, includes from about the 1st of October to the 1st of May, sometimes longer, but this chiefly depends on the temperature of the house.

Chambersburg, Trenton, N. J.