CENTURY VI, 257 



549. It is reported, that hartshorn, shaven, or in 

 small pieces, mixed with dung and watered, putteth 

 up mushrooms. And we know that hartshorn is of a 

 fat and clammy substance : and it may be ox-horn 

 would do the like. 



550. It hath been reported, though it be scarce 

 credible, that ivy hath grown out of a stag s horn ; 

 which they suppose did rather come from a confrica- 

 tion of the horn upon the ivy, than from the horn 

 itself. There is not known any substance but earth, 

 and the procedures of earth, as tile, stone, &c. that 

 yieldeth any moss or herby substance. There ma j 

 be trial made of some seeds, as that of fennel-seed, 

 mustard-seed, and rape-seed, put into some little 

 holes made in the horns of stags, or oxen, to see if 

 they will grow. 



551. There is also another imperfect plant, that 

 in shew is like a great mushroom : and it is some 

 times as broad as one s hat ; which they call a 

 toad s stool ; but it is not esculent ; and it groweth, 

 commonly, by a dead stub of a tree, and likewise 

 about the roots of rotten trees : and therefore seem- 

 eth to take his juice from wood putrified. Which 

 sheweth, by the way, that wood putrified yieldeth a 

 frank moisture. 



552. There is a cake that groweth upon the side 

 of a dead tree, that hath gotten no name, but it is 

 large, and of a chesnut colour, and hard and pithy ; 

 whereby it should seem, that even dead trees forget 

 not their putting forth ; no more than the car- 



VOL. iv. s 



