264 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. | RS 
wholesome and nourishing animal food, for gastronomically and 
chemically considered the flesh of the mushroom has been proved 
to be almost identical with meat, and possesses the same nourish- 
ing properties. f 
Duriug the late civil war the people in the southern states, being 
pressed for food, gathered and ate fungi. 
A few fungi are endowed with medical properties. Ergot, a most 
valuable medicine, used to control hemorrhage, is made from a 
fungi which grows on rye. 
Profs. Lugger and Green can tell you of numerous kinds that are - 
enemies to your grain and fruits, but we shall only dwell on those 
used asafood. They exist in vast profusion everywhere and only 
. need to be known to be utilized or avoided. 
Fries, the father of the study of this class of plants, discovered 
2,000 species within the compass of a square furlong in Sweden. 
Rev. M. A. Curtis, of North Carolina, in his catalogue of the flora 
of that state, gives a list of 2,391 fungi. Within two miles of his res- 
idence, he designated 111 species of mushrooms, forty of which he 
had eaten. Dr. A. E. Johnson collected and determined 775 different 
species of fungi, 14 of which were newto science. These he found 
in Wright, Anoka, Hennepin and Ramsey counties. A general 
knowledge of the mushroom would add enormously to the food 
supply of our country. 
The question which every one asks first is,“‘How can you tella 
toadstool from a mushroom?” You cannot fell mushrooms from 
toadstools, because toadstools are mushrooms. What they really 
wish to know is, how can you tell an edible from a poisonous 
fungus? Of this our knowledge is empirical. We know that cer- 
tain species are edible and others are poisonous, because persons 
have eaten the former and found them good and harmless, and 
others disagreeable and harmful. 
W. H. Gibson writes: “You will find various popular traditions 
and tests given for selection of mushrooms, which are not worthy 
of consideration, such as the following: “Pleasant taste and odor; 
boiling with a silver spoon, the staining of the silver indicating 
danger; peeling of the cap; change of colorin fracture.” He adds: 
“T once knew an aged dame who was a village oracle on this as well 
as other topics, and who ate and dispensed toadstools on the above 
rules. Strange to say, she lived to a good old age and no increased 
mortality chanced as a result of her generosity.” 
As a rule, the people of the United States are not often fungi 
eaters, largely owing to a dread of being poisoned. Yet there cer- 
tainly are not as many cases of mushroom poisoning as of canned 
meat and sausage. So commonly is unwholesome meat offered for 
sale that, for the protection of consumers, inspectors have been ap- 
pointed. Still, instances of poisoning are reported from time to 
time. Last Sunday,in Minneapolis, three members of a family were 
poisoned by eating beefsteak. We do not presume that the knowl- 
edge of such cases will deter any from eating meat in the future. 
There can be no universal rule given for detecting the poisonous 
mushrooms. 
