568 MUSHROOMS, OR ESCULENT FUNGI. 



the surface of the ground. When fully developed, " the 

 stem is solid, two or three inches high, and about half an 



inch in diameter ; its cap meas- 

 ures from an inch to three, and 

 sometimes even upwards of four 

 inches in diameter, is of a white 

 color, changing to brown when 

 old, and becoming scurfy, fleshy, 

 and regularly convex, but, with 

 age, flat, and liquefying in de- 

 Mushroom. cay ; the gills are loose, of a 



pinkish-red, changing to liver color, in contact with, but not 

 united to, the stem, very thick-set, some forked next the 

 stem, some next the edge of the cap, some at both ends, 

 and generally, in that case, excluding the intermediate 

 smaller gills." 



Loudon says that it is most readily distinguished, when of 

 middle size, by its fine pink or flesh-colored gills and pleas- 

 ant smell. In a more advanced stage, the gills become of a 

 chocolate color ; and it is then more liable to be confounded 

 with other kinds of dubious quality : but the species which 

 most nearly resembles it is slimy to the touch, and destitute 

 of the fine odor, having rather a disagreeable smell. Further, 

 the noxious kind grows in woods, or on the margin of woods ; 

 while the true Mushroom springs up chiefly in open pastures, 

 and should be gathered only in such places. 



Cultivation. "This is the only species that has as yet 

 been subjected to successful cultivation ; though there can be 

 little doubt that all or most of the terrestrial-growing sorts 

 would submit to the same process, if their natural habitats 

 were sufficiently studied, and their spawn collected and propa- 

 gated. In this way the Common Mushroom was first brought 

 under the control of man. 



" The seeds of the Common Mushroom, in falling from the 



