Mushrooms, Fungi, or Toadstools 409 



CAUTIONS FOR THE INEXPERIENCED 



Never use specimens which are decomposed in the slight- 

 est degree. 



Never use those which are at all burrowed by insects. 



Never collect for food mushrooms in the button stage, 

 as it is difficult for a novice to distinguish the buttons of 

 poisonous species from buttons of harmless species. 



Never use fungi with swollen bases surrounded by sac- 

 Hke or scaly envelopes. 



Never use fungi with milky juice or any juice unless it is 

 the reddish. 



Never use fungi with caps thin in proportion to the width 

 of the gills when the gills are nearly all of equal length, 

 especially if the caps are bright colored. 



Never use for food tube-bearing fungi in which the flesh 

 changes color when cut or broken, nor those with the tubes 

 reddish. Be very cautious with all fleshy tube-bearing fungi. 



Never use for food fungi with web-like ring around the 

 upper part of the stem. 



MUSHROOM GROWING 



Mushroom growing is a good way to make some money, 

 provided one has a cellar or roothouse at one's disposal. 

 To learn how, send to the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, for Farmers' Bulletin, No. 204, "The Culti- 

 vation of Mushrooms." 



BOOKS RECOMMENDED 



The following are standard and beautifully illustrated 

 works on mushrooms and toadstools; they have been freely 

 used for guidance and illustrations in the preparation of the 

 above : 



