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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST, 



of dust. All mushrooms, of whatever kind, 

 grow from spores. These produce fine 

 threads in the soil known as the mycelium. 

 Upon these threads or vines appear at first 

 tiny knobs or conglomerations of cells about 

 the size of a pin's head. These rapidly 

 develop under favorable conditions of soil, 

 combined with moisture and warmth, and 

 soon lift their heads above the soil and 

 appear as baby mushrooms, which quickly 

 attain to maturity. That which we see is 

 really the fructification or fruit of the mush- 

 room. In the case of the puff ball, there is 

 little difficulty in distinguishing it from all 

 other kinds of mushroom fruit. The only 

 possible mistake that can be made is in 

 confounding a young Amanita, when just 

 emerging from the ground, with one of the 

 smaller species of puff balls. The Amanitas 

 are our most poisonous mushrooms. Though 

 gilled like the common meadow mushroom, 

 they emerge from the ground enclosed in a 

 spherical volva or sheath, and to a careless 

 observer might be mistaken for a puff" ball. 

 The slightest examination of the internal 

 structure will show the marked diff'erence. 

 The young Amanita, when broken open, 

 will reveal the enfolded form of the mush- 

 room within, whereas the puff ball will be 

 found to be solid and homogeneous 

 throughout. It is a comforting thought 

 that no poisonous puff ball has been found 

 in any part of the world. From time 

 immemorial the small boy has kicked it 

 aside as a useless and unsightly thing, little 

 dreaming that it contained for him a supply 

 of palatable and nutritious food. The Rev. 

 Dr. Badham, an eminent British authority 

 on mushrooms, expressed his regret that 

 tons of wholesome food were rotting every 

 year on the ground because no one had 

 sufficient knowledge to take advantage of 

 it. The same remark applies with equal 

 force in this country, hence it is high time 

 that something be done to disseminate 

 information, and I know of no association 



so likely to be interested in the subject, or 

 so capable of understanding it, as the Fruit 

 Growers' Association. I admit that many 

 have been deterred from the study of mush- 

 rooms, or micology, by the fear that it was 

 an abstruse subject that was beyond their 

 grasp and fraught with terrible risks. 

 I shall endeavor in this series of articles to 

 show that a very little knowledge will 

 enable the reader to add materially to his 

 " fruit " supply, and with perfect safety to 

 himself. The accompanying diagram is a 

 representation of the internal structure of a 

 puff ball and serves to explain some of the 

 technical terms used in describing it. 



A — Interior rind, bark or skin — -peridium. 



B — Inner rind or true peridium. 



C — Filaments rising from base — columella. 



D — Cottony threads or hyphae producing 

 spores — capillitium. The space they occupy 

 is called the gleba. 



E — Empty, sterile cells — space they oc- 

 cupy called the sub-gleba. 



Most of the puff'-balls belong to two gen- 

 era — Lycoperdon and Bovista. Shall des- 

 cribe a few of the more common species. 



Lycoperdon giganteum, or the Giant Puff"- 

 Ball. This is the one gathered by Mr. Orr, 

 and of which the photograph is here given. 

 Its great size will readily distinguish it 

 from all other species. Its diameter is 

 usually from eight to fifteen inches, though 

 some have been found whose diameter was 



