The methods used to cultivate mushrooms
today are very similar to those over 100 years ago. Agaricus
can fruit in the dark, but they do require some light to induce stable
flushes of fruiting and to produce high yields. An overhead source
of incandescent or fluorescent light is sufficient. It is uncertain
how the pictured mushrooms growning in mines were lit; possibly using candlelight!
Photographs of Agaricus cultivation
in a mine
Scotland, origin unknown,
sometime during the late 19th/early 20th century
Photographs of Agaricus cultivation
in Sheds
Traditional mushroom farm,
Aberdeen, 2001