them. In general they are wide enough for two rows of beds with a foot way 18 inches wide in the center. Where a mushroom bed has been well prepared and properly seeded, it produces about six pounds of mushrooms per square yard. These mushrooms bring, in the market, an average of about 15 cents per pound. It is stated by some authorities that the reason the bed ceases to bear after a time and has to be abandoned or moved is not because of the exhaustion of the food but is due to the ravages of an insect or fly which produces a worm which is fatal to the growth of the fungus. At any rate, it is customary to abandon the beds after they have been bearing for six or eight months and to return to them after a year, when they are found to again be productive.
It is not expected that the general consumer will become an expert in the selection of mushrooms. Where mushrooms are exposed in a public market, it is the duty of the municipal officers in charge of food products to see to it that poisonous varieties are not exposed for sale. It will be of value, however, to the reader to have some idea of the general shape of some of the more common edible and poisonous varieties. It is generally supposed that mushrooms, toadstools, and puff-balls are entirely distinct species and that only the mushroom, so-called, is edible. On the contrary, there are many edible toadstools and many edible puff-balls, and all three classes of fungi belong to the same general family.
Food Value of Mushrooms.—The nutritive value of mushrooms is not exceptionally high, although there is a popular opinion to the contrary. Frequently it has been stated that the mushroom in the vegetable world holds a similar position to beefsteak among meats, being particularly rich in digestible protein. The analytical data which have been collected from numerous sources on the composition of mushrooms do not bear out this popular impression, but, on the contrary, show that the mushroom is a food product consisting very largely of water and of only very small quantities of protein, fat, and carbohydrates.
The composition of some of the common mushrooms is shown in the following table (Farmers' Bulletin, No. 79, Mushrooms as Food):
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|Water. |Total |Albuminoid|Non-albuminoid|Protein.|Fat. |Carbohydrates.|Fiber.| Ash.
| |Nitrogen.|Nitrogen. |Nitrogen. | | | | |
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Common mushroom,| 91.30 | 0.60 | 0.36 | 0.24 | 3.75 | 0.20 | 3.50 | 0.80 | 0.50
Shaggy Coprinus,| 92.19 | .45 | .15 | .30 | 2.81 | .26 | 1.40 | .57 | .98
Inky Coprinus, | 92.31 | .36 | — | — | 2.25 | .24 | — | .72 | 1.29
Common Morel, | 89.54 | .49 | .37 | .12 | 3.06 | .50 | 1.60 | .91 | 1.08
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