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    Vegetables For Profit - No. 4: Mushrooms, Cucumbers, Tomatoes And Salads For Profit - The Cultivation of Chicory, Corn Salad, Cucumbers, Dandelion, Endive, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Mustard, Cress, Radishes, Spring Onions, Tomatoes, and Watercress for Market.
    Vegetables For Profit - No. 4: Mushrooms, Cucumbers, Tomatoes And Salads For Profit - The Cultivation of Chicory, Corn Salad, Cucumbers, Dandelion, Endive, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Mustard, Cress, Radishes, Spring Onions, Tomatoes, and Watercress for Market.
    Vegetables For Profit - No. 4: Mushrooms, Cucumbers, Tomatoes And Salads For Profit - The Cultivation of Chicory, Corn Salad, Cucumbers, Dandelion, Endive, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Mustard, Cress, Radishes, Spring Onions, Tomatoes, and Watercress for Market.
    Ebook167 pages1 hour

    Vegetables For Profit - No. 4: Mushrooms, Cucumbers, Tomatoes And Salads For Profit - The Cultivation of Chicory, Corn Salad, Cucumbers, Dandelion, Endive, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Mustard, Cress, Radishes, Spring Onions, Tomatoes, and Watercress for Market.

    By Anon Anon

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    About this ebook

    This book contains a comprehensive guide to growing vegetables for profit, with a special focus on cultivating mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatoes, and salads. A fantastic guide full of insider tips, simple instructions, and helpful illustrations, this volume is not to be missed by those with an interest in growing vegetables. Contents include: “Mushrooms”, “Introductory Remarks”, “Manure for Beds”, “The Beds”, “Spawning the Beds”, “Outdoor Culture”, “Pests and Diseases”, “Cucumbers”, “Cucumber Houses”, “Culture Under Glass”, “Ridge Cucumber”, “Pests and Diseases”, “Tomatoes”, “Culture Under Glass”, “Saladings”, “Miscellaneous Facts”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHome Farm Books
    Release dateJan 31, 2018
    ISBN9781528783354
    Vegetables For Profit - No. 4: Mushrooms, Cucumbers, Tomatoes And Salads For Profit - The Cultivation of Chicory, Corn Salad, Cucumbers, Dandelion, Endive, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Mustard, Cress, Radishes, Spring Onions, Tomatoes, and Watercress for Market.

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      Book preview

      Vegetables For Profit - No. 4 - Anon Anon

      Part I.—MUSHROOMS.

      ______________

      CHAPTER I.

      INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

      THE cultivation of Mushrooms is every year becoming of greater importance to both large and small holders. The reason of this is that the demand for them is gradually increasing, and they are a very suitable crop to grow during the autumn, winter, and spring months, to bring in something when there is very little of anything else to sell. They may be successfully grown in the open air, if well covered with litter, and also in sheds, frames, or glasshouses of every description.

      WILL THEY PAY TO GROW?—This is a question one naturally expects to be asked by those who have never taken up their cultivation, and is the first thing that must be decided before growers will be induced to consider whether they will grow mushrooms or not. So many have tried and failed, or only partially succeeded; but their lack of success is due, in nearly every case, to faults of their own making. There is no mystery in the cultivation of Mushrooms, and no crop that we know of so easy to grow, if the three essentials—good spawn, good manure, and proper treatment—can be obtained. Another point of still greater importance is, there is no crop that will give so good a return for the outlay as this, if the work be properly done. To make the cultivation of Mushrooms a success they must, like every other crop, be grown well. No half-hearted method will do. Satisfaction can only be obtained by constant care and attention to detail. No crop requires so much care at the commencement as does the one under notice. Use good manure, properly prepared, and the best spawn, and success is a certainty. The first crop we ever grew gave a yield of fifteen pounds to the yard run of bed, the second seventeen and a-half pounds. One year a mile of beds yielded twenty-one thousand pounds of Mushrooms, and the next year another mile yielded a still heavier crop.

      COST OF PRODUCTION.—At best the figures we give can only be taken as approximate; they are perfectly accurate so far as our own case is concerned, but there are so many things which influence them, such as dearer or cheaper manure, carriage, fuel, and convenience in growing Mushrooms, that to many they can be only a guide to enable them to arrive at the cost of the Mushroom beds. Best straw manure in London, free on rail, can be obtained at about two shillings per ton. To this must be added railway carriage and cartage, which, in our case, come to two shillings and one shilling respectively. The raw material in the shape of manure costs five shillings per ton. If the manure is long there will be a certain amount of litter to shake out, but, on an average, one ton of manure will be sufficient to make three and a-half yards of bed. The next thing is preparing the manure. We find, as a rule, that the manure wants turning at least three times. A man will turn twenty tons of manure in a day, and so, at three shillings and sixpence per day, the turning of twenty tons of dung three times will cost ten shillings and sixpence, or sixpence halfpenny per ton. Three men will be required for putting up the bed, one to bring the manure, one to put up the bed, and one to tread it. The three men will form four yards of bed per hour, costing about threepence per yard for labour under this head. One hundred yards of bed will take fifteen bushels of spawn, costing, at three shillings a bushel, forty-five shillings. The spawning will cost five shillings per hundred yards of bed, and the labour for soiling about four shillings and sixpence. Supposing we obtain a yield of fifteen pounds to the yard run of bed, the picking and packing will cost fourpence, and the carriage, on fifteen pounds, fivepence.

      MUSHROOMS UNDER GLASS–FLAT BEDS.

      Approximate cost of one hundred yards of Mushroom bed:

      RECEIPTS FROM THE CROP.—After twelve years’ experience in growing Mushrooms, and taking one season with another, we have found that, on an average, a ridge bed will yield fifteen pounds of Mushrooms to the yard run. The price of Mushrooms varies very much, but, taking the six months of one year, from October to March, the average wholesale price returned was 6 1/2d. per pound. The next year, a bad one for the sale of Mushrooms, a hundred yards of bed yielded one thousand five hundred pounds of Mushrooms, and returned £40 12s. 6d., against an outlay of £16 16s. 2d. Besides this, we have to take into consideration the value of the manure, and it cannot be valued at much less than half-cost. Some beds will yield more than fifteen pounds per yard, some less; but the grower who cannot obtain the fifteen pounds to the yard run of bed should not be satisfied until he can, because failure in doing so can generally be traced to faulty cultivation. By considering these figures a satisfactory answer to our question, Will they pay to grow? is obtained; but there is something else to be learnt from them, and that is, while success means profit, failure means a considerable loss, when we think of the great expense of putting up Mushroom beds.

      WHERE MUSHROOMS CAN BE GROWN.—Mushrooms will grow almost anywhere. To our mind, there is no better place for them than the inside of glasshouses during the autumn and winter, but this is not essential, for they will grow in sheds, frames, and out of doors just as well, providing they are kept protected with plenty of litter. In growing them under glass no litter is needed, for it pays better to turn a little heat on to the house in cold weather than to have to frequently cover and uncover the beds. The beds can be watered with more case, and the Mushrooms are cleaner and brighter, and realise a higher price when they have not been grown under straw. A very good place for Mushroom beds is in old thatched barns or stables. Beds put up in these places in January would come into bearing in March, and last well into June. There are hundreds of situations of this description about the country, which might very well be put to a profitable use.

      MUSHROOMS OUTDOORS—A RIDGE-SHAPED BED.

      A WORD OF WARNING.—Do not be led away with the idea that all it is necessary to do is to spend the money, and go in extensively for Mushrooms, to make a fortune at one hit. Go forward warily. If their cultivation has never been previously undertaken, be satisfied the first time with a dozen yards of bed, and see what the result is before undertaking too much. Follow out the instructions we shall give, and, if you fail, try to trace the cause of your failure. To those who have already tried and failed, we can only ask them to read through this article, and see if it does not suggest the reason of their non-success, and then, even they may be tempted to try again.

      CHAPTER II.

      MANURE FOR BEDS.

      THE manure is the Mushroom grower’s sheet anchor, and must be good. The very best manure for Mushroom growing is obtained from horses littered with straw, and fed on good corn and hay. Well-fed horses give manure rich in food for Mushrooms; poorly-fed ones, poor stuff not fit to use. It is absolutely necessary to have dung that is fresh and new, and if it contains sawdust, shavings, or peat moss do not have it, even if it be given to you free. The only failure we ever had was when we used manure from horses littered with peat moss, and since then we have seen lots of failures due to the same thing. Some people may be able to grow Mushrooms from such dung, but there is a risk, and growers cannot afford to take more risks than they can possibly help when they are depending on the crop for a living. In large cities and towns there are plenty of manure contractors from whom the very material required can be obtained. Most of them know their business, and for an extra threepence a ton they are always willing to put the best manure by itself for those who require it. It is quite as well to pay a visit to the railway goods depôt, and see what kind of stuff is loaded by the different manure merchants, for this will enable the buyer to judge which is the best man to go to. If the dung can be obtained from some source near at hand so much the better, and this can often be done when the amount required is small.

      PREPARING THE MANURE.—Having found a source from whence the manure may be obtained, the next thing is to know how to deal with it when it arrives. So soon as the manure comes to hand, have it put into a heap as near as possible to the place where the beds will be made, choosing a nice clean piece of land on which to place it. The manure should then be well shaken over. In shaking it over throw out all the litter that is over a foot in length. Put it into

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