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violent heat subsides and becomes reduced only to a gentle warmth, otherwise the spawn will be totally destroyed and the whole work to be done over again, and this is often the cause of so many Mushroom beds proving barren, the spawn perishing at the first setting off. See Spawning the bed, page 36.

When the bed is made, thrust down some long sharp pointed sticks, two three or more, in each bed according to its length, and by drawing up the sticks two or three times a week, and feeling the lower end, you will be able to judge more readily of the working and state of the beds, for the reception of the spawn.

Let the bed be fully exposed to the open air, day and night, that its heat may come on gradually without burning; if