THE PLANT WOKLD 



215 



or stumps ; it has a red or yellowish-red hue on the top and when young 

 it is very viscid. It is called the beefsteak mushroom on account of its 

 supposed food value. In the vicinity of our town and in the Mt. Gretna 

 hills, a hundred pounds could be collected any day. The whole plant 

 can be utilized, not even omitting the slippery or viscid mass found on 

 the top of the flesh of young plants. The flesh contains thick fleshy 

 fibres running parallel to one another. It is a beautiful object and 

 worth}^ of attention in its wild haunts. Another mushroom highly 

 esteemed by many, is the horse mushroom or the plowed land mush- 

 room. It is found in pastures and plowed lands — most abundantly after 

 rains during summer and early autumn. Its upper surface is white or 

 yellowish, having a mealy or scaly covering ; its under surface (called 

 gills) is at first white, then pink, and finally black. It also has a ring 

 hanging down from the stem, and it is by these features that it can be 

 soon recognized and identified by any novice. Space wdll not permit us 

 to mention more species of high food value, but suffice it to state that 

 hundreds more have just as high a food value as any of these already 

 mentioned. 



In a study of our more ordinary forms of mushrooms a few interest- 

 ing features can be learned by every one, and not confining ourselves to 

 the technicalities found in a study of this kind, we will give a few very 

 common facts regarding the structure of the three great families of 

 mushrooms. 



In figures 1, 2 and 3, we represent 

 the typical sections — plant cut from top 

 to bottom and looking at the plant di- 

 rectly in front of your eyes. These 

 three large families are called the gilled, 

 tubed and spined mushrooms ; the let- 

 ters e, f and g, respectively, represent- 

 ing the gills, tubes and spines. These 

 gills, tubes and spines, are the portions 

 of the plants that bear the spores or' 

 seeds. These spores are very small and 

 can not be seen individually with the 

 naked eye. Every mushroom has a cap, 

 represented in the figures by the let- 

 ters a, b and c. The letter represents the stem. Fig. 1 (h) represents 

 the ring which before rupturing is fastened to the skin that runs over 

 the margin and edge of the gills. The letter (i) in Fig. 1, represents the 

 volva. Never eat or be induced to eat any mushroom which looks like 

 Fig. 1 — that is, never eat a gilled mushroom which has a ring and a 

 volva — unless told to do so by some excellent authority, for we know 



