MUSHROOMS AND TOADSTOOLS. 



593 



ural characteristics. But no such division is 

 of value in defining the quality of any mush- 

 room. Many of the genus Amanita are edible. 

 Of the black-spored mushrooms, the Coprini 

 are generally edible, although they deliquesce 

 into an inky fluid. A mushroom of similar 

 habits and spores, Agaricus (Panceolus) campa- 

 nulatus, not deliquescent, produces toxicologi- 

 cal effects little inferior to those of hasheesh 

 or opium. No sign, test, or distinguishing 

 mark to divide the poisonous from the edible 

 fungi is of the least service; one will surely 

 be poisoned if he relies upon any such evi- 

 dence. A person that once knows any edible 

 mushroom is in little danger of deception. 



The fungus-eater must simply learn to iden- 

 tify any species of mushroom as infallibly as 



Cultivation of Mushrooms. Only by indirect 

 methods can mushrooms be propagated. By 

 this is meant that no means of cultivation has 

 yet been discovered analogous to that of sowing 

 seed and awaiting the harvest. By understand- 

 ing the conditions of growth, and supplying 

 these, mushrooms have been artificially multi- 

 plied, and this is all that has been done. For 

 example, the truffle is a most delicious and ex- 

 pensive article of diet. The only way of in- 

 creasing the supply is by the planting of groves 

 of oaks in the districts to which it is already 

 native ; in due time the fungus makes a vol- 

 untary appearance in the open spaces between 

 the oak-trees. Agaricus (pleurotus) ulmarius 

 might be similarly made to increase by planta- 

 tions of elm-trees. As these matured, and suf- 



MUSHROOM CAVES. 



one distinguishes the garden-vegetables from 

 other roots and herbs greatly resembling them. 

 The place, time, and condition of the growth of 

 any mushroom are important elements in its 

 identification. There is no more of the myste- 

 rious or of the spontaneous in such growth than 

 in that of any other plant. The various kinds 

 succeed one another through the season with 

 an order and regularity equal to that of flower- 

 ing plants. Just where a mushroom is found 

 this year, in that very spot, barring accident 

 and drought, will it be found the succeeding 

 year. The vine that produces the fruit is be- 

 neath the ground, and for that very reason it 

 is less subject to change than the peach-tree 

 or the rose-bush. 



VOL. xxvi. 38 A 



fered wounds or the loss of limbs, it would be 

 found that a harvest of white edible fungi fol- 

 lowed such conditions. Coprinus comatus is a 

 delicate, oval, white mushroom, growing nor- 

 mally near cities, and of late occasionally found 

 in the markets. A compost may be made of 

 rich, black earth and the ashes and cinders of 

 anthracite coal mixed in a cellar or other 

 warm and sheltered locality. If this bed is 

 then impregnated by the addition of a few 

 spadefuls of earth from a spot in which the 

 above-named mushroom is growing plentifully, 

 a crop of Coprini will be the result. In like 

 manner, by fertilizing, watering, or sheltering, 

 any place in the open air where mushrooms 

 grow, the harvest may be largely increased. 



