26 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



noted, is whether the gills change color 

 as the mushroom grows older, or after it 

 has been picked. 



SPORES. 



Another important thing is to find out 

 the color of the spores. This can be done 

 by cutting the cap off and laying it gill- 

 side down on a piece of paper. Dark 

 paper shows up the white spores better 

 than white paper. After leaving it a few 

 hours there will be found a perfect ring 

 of spores, either white, sulphur colored, 

 pink or brown, with as many transition 

 shades as are found in a description of a 

 spring fashion plate. 



It is probable that the fairy rings arise 

 from the scattered spores of a single fun- 

 gus. One mushroom exhausts the 

 nourishing power of the soil under it and 

 most of its spores must fall upon pre- 

 empted ground ; but those on the outer 

 edge may find nourishment enough to 

 develop a few struggling mycelium 

 threads. These produce a cluster of 

 mushrooms around the circle vacated by 

 the parent; and in turn exhaust the soil. 

 So with each successive generation the 

 ring grows wider until at last if accident 

 or stones or weeds do not prevent we find 

 a fairy ring in all its perfection. 



Nobody fears the edible field mush- 

 room, but to many it is the only edible 

 species they will touch without fear and 

 trembling. It is easy to distinguish it if 

 one knows other species and realizes how 

 much some poisonous kinds resemble it. 

 Its color is a dirty white or grey on top, 

 it has a short stem with a white wooly 

 ring around it. The unequal gills are a 

 delicate pink at first, but later they turn 

 to a brownish purple owing to the color 

 of the spores which are purplish, never 

 white. One important thing to remem- 

 ber is that it never grows in woods, but 

 always in fields and preferably in pastures 

 where cows or sheep have fertilized the 



soil and kept the grass cropped. In such 

 places from August to October one may 

 be almost sure of finding a good crop of 

 field mushrooms, that is if there has been 

 rain. 



As a rule most people who know the 

 common field mushroom are apt to lay 

 down rules for edible species based on its 

 characteristic dirty grey top, its brown- 

 pink gills and purple spores, but the 

 more one studies the family the more 

 difficult it is to give any general rules by 

 which the edible species can be dis- 

 tinguished from the non-edible. It is 

 like the French rule for forming the 

 plural, the exceptions are so many, and 

 the exceptions of the exceptions so much 

 more numerous; that the original rule is 

 completely lost to sight. 



So my advise to beginners is not to 

 choose fungi for a meal by any general 

 rule, but by carefully comparing a speci- 

 men point by point with some well 

 authenticated work, till it is as familiar 

 to you as a potato or a turnip and eat no 

 others. 



The field mushroom has a poor relation 

 that is often avoided because it is not 

 exactly like its more popular relative. 

 This is the horse mushroom, or Agaricus 

 arvensis. It is a little larger than the 

 field mushroom, and it is pure white on 

 top. Its gills are at first a beautiful 

 pink, but when the mushroom is older 

 they are apt to turn a brown to purplish 

 or to black. It is very delicate to eat 

 when it is young and still pink under- 

 neath, and none but the epicure would 

 be the wiser were it to be eaten by mis- 

 take instead of the field mushroom, but 

 such is the popular prejudice against it 

 that the cultivator cannot sell it in the 

 market except for catsup or pickles, but 

 for that purpose large crops of it are 

 raised. It may grow on the borders of 

 woods or the borders of garden beds ; 

 also about stables. 



