1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



147 



for this work, but it is certain that its natural ene- 

 mies have, by virtue of the law already -stated, 

 checked its abnormal increase, and established a j 

 substantially harmless equilibrium." ' 



The Largest A.merican Trees. — The largest 

 specimens of wood so far received by the New 

 York Museum is a section of the white ash, which 

 is forty-six inches in diameter and one hundred 

 and eighty-two years old. The next largest speci- 

 men is a section of the Plantanus occidentalis, va- 

 riously known in commerce as the sycamore, but- 

 tonwood, or plane tree, which is forty-two inches 

 in diameter and only one hundred and seventy- 

 one years of age. 



Wood of the Black Jack Oak. — The Florida 

 Dispatch says the wood of the blackjack, (Quer- 

 cus nigra, we suppose,) takes the place in the 

 South of bird's eye maple. 



Timber of the China Tree. — In the South, 

 the Melia Azederach, or China tree, grows to per- 

 fection, and the Florida Dispatch says is of excel- 

 lent quality in cabinet-makers' work. 



Pine Trees in Texas.— The last census report 

 gives Texas the first rank among the States pro- 



ducing pine trees, estimating the number of feet 

 of that species of 67,508,500,000, nearly double 

 that of Michigan, which has 35,000,000,000 feet 

 and occupies the fifth rank. Maine occupying the 

 lowest on the list, with 475,000,000 feet— all in 

 board measure. 



ScN Dried Wood. — A correspondent of the 

 Massachusetts Ploughmati finds that wood which 

 is dried slowly in a cool place is better than that 

 which is dried quickly in the hot sun, even though 

 cut in the summer. 



Variability of Duration in Timber. — The 

 average life of a railroad sleeper in our country is 

 seven years. There are 2,211 in a mile. The 

 average cost is 50 cents each. Thus our sleepers 

 are costing us $1,105.50 a mile for each of 

 the 40,000 miles in the Union. The sleepers on 

 the English roads last on an average fourteen 

 years, and when properly treated with preserving 

 substances, they last for a century. 



Parsley Leaved Hawthorn. — According to 

 the Florida Dispatch this pretty hawthorn, Cra- 

 taegus apiifolia, is known in the South as "'possum 

 haw." 



Natural History and Science. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



ARE ALL MUSHROOMS MORE OR LESS 

 POISONOUS? 



BY H. W. RAVANEL, AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA. 



I note your comments on the statement of the 

 London Medical Times, that "all mushrooms are 

 more or less poisonous." The term "mushroom" 

 is rather vague, but it seems to be intended here 

 to apply to all those larger fleshy species of toad- 

 stools which might, from their appearance, be 

 used as human food. Of course we have no exact 

 knowledge of the real proportion between the 

 edible or harmless species and those which are 

 poisonous. But few persons would care to subject 

 themselves to a test of this kind. Quite a large 

 number are noted by Fries in his "Systema 

 Mycologicene," and by others of the old mycol- 

 ogists, as "edible." Some are also known to be 



poisonous, and therefore great care should be 

 used in preparing them for the table. 



As far as my knowledge and experience go in 

 these matters, 1 am inclined to believe that so far 

 as the statement "all mushrooms are more or less 

 poisonous," is from being true, that on the con- 

 trary, most mushrooms are innocuous (except that 

 they may be tasteless or indigestible), and that 

 those which are actively poisonous are compar- 

 atively few. I base my belief partly on my own 

 experience, but chiefly on the investigations and 

 trials made by the late Dr. Curtis, the eminent 

 American mycologist, for a series of years, on the 

 mushrooms of North Carolina. For a period of 

 about thirty years, closing only with his life, we 

 were in constant correspondence on botanical 

 subjects. During the war, when fresh meats were 

 not always to be had, Dr. C. would often say 

 jocularly that he was testing our common native 

 mushroom, and found many of them really de- 



