164 ARMILLARIA MELLEA, 



Consequently, they must be carefully watched. During 

 Sei^toinber and October it is wise to search through all 

 woods for the fructifications, and to mark on a map the 

 localities where they are found. Armed with the knowledge as 

 to which parts of the woods are infected by the fungus and 

 which are free, a forester knows what risks he rmis in plant- 

 ing, and he should refrain from planting the more susceptible 

 species, such as Scots pine, Sitka spruce, and Weymouth 

 pine, in or near infected areas. Where it is necessary to 

 plant conifers in infected land it will probably be a remunera- 

 tive expenditure to grub up and burn all the infected stumps. 

 The fungus spreads by its rhizomorphs and bears fructifica- 

 tions at some considerable distance from these stumps ; but 

 it must be remembered that the fungus in an area round 

 a stump is actually living on it, and when the latter is 

 removed the fungus will cease to spread unless it has already 

 found other feeding grounds. 



Where, through shortage of labour or other causes, it is 

 impossible to grub up the stumps, some good may be done 

 by ])oring holes in them and filling them with commercial 

 sulphuric acid, though this may kill a few trees in the 

 immediate vicinity. 



Stumps which are not yet attacked are nevertheless 

 liable to form centres of infection in the future, so that all 

 means which hasten their decomposition are of service. 

 Decomposition may be brought about by the honey fungus 

 itself, or by one of several other species of fungi ; but it is 

 seldom that we find two species of the higher fungi growing 

 simultaneously on the same ])art of a stump. Consequently 

 encouragement should be afforded to other fungi, so that 

 by getting their mycelia well into the tissues of the stumps 

 they may render them at any rate partially immune to the 

 honey fungus. It is well to look for other stumps which are 

 already attacked by harmless fungi and to infect newly-cut 

 stools with these fungi. This is best done by cutting off the 

 fresh fructifications, and laying them with their naturally 

 lower side downwards on unrotted stools. See that all 

 parts of a stool are brought into touch with the fungi and 



