CHAPTER XX 

 ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FUNGI 



In the preceding chapter we have frequently referred 

 to ways in which our own lives are related to the life of 

 plants. It would be difficult to say what particular group 

 of plants affects us most, but certainly none more than 

 the fungi. They are among the direct causes of human 

 sorrow and happiness, of health and disease, of poverty 

 and wealth, life and death. They are at once the founda- 

 tion and the arch enemy of agriculture, the objects and ob- 

 stacles of commerce, the source and hindrance of human 

 industry. 



EDIBLE FUNGI. 



278. Mushrooms and Toadstools. Everyone is familiar 

 with edible "mushrooms;" they are now on sale at every 

 grocery. Nearly everyone thinks there is a difference 

 between mushrooms and " toad-stools," Such, however, is 

 not the case. These two terms are applied indiscrim- 

 inately by the botanist to any "fleshy " fungus. The word 

 "mushroom" is used by most people to designate the 

 meadow-agaric (Agaricus campestris), which is the mush- 

 room of commerce, par excellence. There are over 1,000 

 fleshy fungi that are good to eat, and many more that 

 are not poisonous, but non-edible because they are 

 tough, or fibrous, or ill-tasting. Many of those good 

 to eat resemble the meadow-mushroom in having 

 a stalk and gills, and are closely related to 

 it (Fig. 212); while others, like the "puff-balls," 



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