MANY OR SPECIAL PURPOSES 365 



ment, they suddenly turn their energies to fruiting. 

 Out of the ground, or out of some pile of decaying 

 wood, a grove of pallid mushrooms appears. They 

 come up in a night, and set us to marvelling. We 

 have not seen the plants themselves. Tear the 

 bark off of the rotten log, and there, between wood 

 and bark, lie the pale threads, like a mass of 

 tangled "yarn. Without the weeks of growth un- 

 seen, no mushrooms could have been formed. 



The pink-gilled meadow mushroom, whose 

 cultivation is the absorbing occupation of many 

 gardeners, and whose search takes us all into the 

 fields in the fall of the year, is the species best 

 known as a food plant. The fleshy, cream-colored 

 umbrella is hung with dull pink "gills," that turn 

 brown in a short time after the "button" opens 

 into the umbrella. Cut a fresh one from the 

 stem, and lay it on a sheet of white paper. Next 

 morning you will find on the paper a pattern of the 

 gills made by a fine dust that has fallen from each 

 in a tiny ridge. A breath will blur the distinct 

 lines, for the dust is impalpable, almost. These 

 "spores" are to the mushroom what seeds are to 

 the higher plants. 



The claim that mushrooms are as nutritious as 

 beefsteak may be exaggerated. Much of them is 

 water. The reason they are good food is that 



