Influence of Mushrooms on Growth of Some Plants. 313 



IL PURE CULTURES WITH AGAR-AGAR AS A SUBSTRATUM 



These cultures were made for the purpose of getting at the relative 

 value of fermented and unfermented mushroom for plant food under con- 

 ditions of precision which would permit the control of the material from 

 fermentation or change by the action of other organisms during the period 

 of growth of the plant employed in the cultures. Radishes and cabbages 

 were planted in the medium. Bottles and flasks* with a capacity of three- 

 fourths of one liter were used and each contained 250 cc. of the medium 

 employed. The consistency of the agar-agar was six-tenths per cent ex- 

 cept that containing Schimper's nutrient solution which "was nine-tenths 

 per cent. The mushroom material was dried and powdered Agaricus 

 campestris, and was used in three diiTerent conditions : first, a cold in- 

 fusion with the solid matter retained ; second, a cold infusion of five 

 hours with the solid parts then filtered out ; third, material which had 

 fermented for two to three months in distilled water. 



After some preliminary experiments to obtain some idea as to the 

 strength of material to use and to determine a method of sterilizing the 

 seed to shut out bacteria and mold fungi, the following media and methods 

 were employed. 



The media with infusion minus the solid matter was employed in 

 two strengths so that in some flasks there was the infusion from five- 

 twelfths gram of mushroom, and in others from five twenty-fourths gram 

 of mushroom. The media with the solid matter retained was also in two 

 strengths, in some there was five twenty- fourths gram of mushroom, 

 and in others there was five forty-eighths gram of mushroom. In the 

 case of the fermented mushroom some contained the liquid from five 

 twenty- fourths gram and others from five forty-eighths gram. Several 

 flasks were prepared with agar-agar alone for checks and others with 

 Schimper's normal nutrient solution f to which a trace of iron was added. 



*See also Molliard, M., Snr la production experimentale de Radis a reserves 

 amylacees, Comp. rend. Acad, sci., Paris 139, 885-887, 1904. 

 t6. g calcium nitrate 



1.5 g potassium nitrate 



1.5 g magnesium sulphate 



1.5 g neutral potassium phosphate 



1.5 g sodium chloride 



600 cc distilled water 



