CLASSIFICATION OP AGARICS 241 



usually rather shorl and firm, white or whitish, glabrous. A \ 

 NULUS above and oear the middle, edge Lacerate, often evanescent 

 in age, derived from the thin, simple, while, partial veU. SPORES 

 elliptical, 7 !» \ L-.5-5.5 micr., purple-brown, blackish-brown in muss. 

 Bmooth. ODOE and TASTE agreeable. 



On the ground in lawns, gardens, golf-links, roadsides, especially 

 in Bheep-pastures, sometimes in cultivated fields. 



Throughoul the State. Less frequent lb spring, usually in Jul) 

 October. Uncommon excepl locally during some seasons, rare at 

 other times. 



This is the well-known "pink-gilled" or -*< m l i I •! « •*" mushroom, l>> 

 many people in this country considered in addition to the "sponge 

 mushroom," \forchella esculenta, as the only mushroom safe to eat; 

 all others are dubbed "toadstools." Some persons, however, know 

 and ea1 a larger cumber <>!' kinds; again, all others are "toadstools." 

 to them. The word toadstool, therefore, means nothing definite; it 

 only expresses the ignorance <>r people concerning those fungi of 

 which they arc afraid. The two words refer to the same group of 

 plants and can be used interchangeably. 



In the young or "button" stage the gills arc soon tinged pink, 

 and as it is possible to mistake the button of the deadly, white 

 Amanita verna for it at this stage, every button should be broken 

 open while collecting. By the time the veil breaks the pink color 

 of the gills is quite marked. All who use this mushroom, should 

 read carefully the remarks under Amanita. 



This mushroom has been eaten from time immemorial, and its 

 artificial cultivation carried on extensively for centuries. In ami 

 around large cities, Large establishments exisl to raise it for the 

 market, selling it for 75c to 90c a pound in this country. "The an- 

 nual product of the Chicago mushroom beds is said to he from 

 sixty to seventy-five tons.'" (Nat. Eist. Surv. of Chicago Acad. 

 Sci. Bull. VII, pari 1. p. 90.) Special underground mushroom 

 houses, caves, abandoned mines, cellars, etc., have been adopted for 

 the cultivation of this mushroom. Duggar states that in I'.toi the 

 total product of the mushroom industry in the environs of Paris, 

 Prance, was 5,000 tons or L0,000,000 pounds. This shows the 

 extent to which Europeans ea1 mushrooms as compared with 

 our American consumption. Aboul the same ratio exists in the 



use of the many different edilde wild species. In this country we 

 have hardly begun to realize the immense amount id' palatable food 

 that goes to waste in our fields and woods. 



Numerous varieties of /'. campestris have been described. With 



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