34 



MUSHROOMS 



on a piece of smooth paper under a tumbler. In a few hours 

 you may get a print or picture of the gills made by the spores 

 that fall from them. The wind carries spores everywhere, and 



so mushrooms are 

 likely to be found 

 wherever there is the 

 right kind of soil. 



Mushroom Plants 

 in the Soil. —Mush- 

 rooms have no real 

 roots, but they spring 

 from a network of 

 frail threads that 

 look almost like 

 mold. These threads 

 are the real plants. 

 They grow beneath 

 the surface of the 

 soil, and the parts 

 above ground are only 

 their fruit. The threads growing through a tree trunk or 

 other substance cause decay, just as mold does. 



Food Mushrooms. — Have you ever eaten mushrooms ? What 

 do they taste like ? 



The common kind of mushroom that we eat always grows 

 in open fields. It is all white except its gills, which are pink 

 or brown. It has a pleasant odor, and the skin easily peels 

 from its top. But you should not taste any of the mushrooms 

 until some one has shown you how to know them. 



Spore Print 



