A 



Guide to the Mushrooms 13 



WHAT ARE MLTSHROUMS? 



From early .si)rLiig until late fall, every- 

 where a))oiit us may be seen the so-called 

 toadstool. The name toadstool has been so 

 long ap])lied by people, to whom all mush- 

 rooms are a "hidden tongue," that it has 

 come to be generally accepted as meaning- 

 something poisonous. The first (piestion 

 generally asked concerning mushrooms is, 

 "How do you tell a mushroom from a toad- 

 stool?" in reality meaning how can edible 

 mushrooms be determined from the poison- 

 ous species. Toadstool is simply the com- 

 mon name for mushroom as daisv is the 

 common name for Chrysanthemum leucan- 

 themum. There are eclil)le mushrooms and 

 poisonous mushrooms, and in order to de- 

 termine the various species, one must study 

 them as carefully as the birds and flowers 

 are studied. 



The mushroom springs up in such unex- 

 pected places and to all appearances in 

 such a short time that the term "mushroom 

 growth", has become a saying for an act 

 done in an incrediblv short time. As a mat- 



