650 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



associations or cooperative unions of Europe should enable growers 

 to protect their interests better and to secure recognition unobtain- 

 able as individuals. The industry is so centralized in the various 

 States that a very small number of associations could easily include 

 practically all the growers in their membership. With proper co- 

 operation on the part of the members of the associations and the 

 abandonment of the attitude of suspicion and distrust which too 

 often characterizes the relations of producers with each other, it 

 should be possible for growers to secure the adequate collection and 

 distribution of the most necessary statistics of production and con- 

 sumption and to more fully acquaint themselves with the need of 

 better methods and of greater facilities for handling the business. 

 (F. B. 304.) 



(Additional References: U. S. Div. of Bot. Cir. 19; B. P. I. 

 Cir. 33, 56; Bu. Stat. B. 50; Nev. E. S. B. 35.) 



MUSHROOMS.* 



The fully expanded plant, or mature mushroom (sporophore), 

 of Agaricus campestris is well known to everyone. It consists of a 

 centrally placed stalk or stipe of from 2 to 6 inches in height, usu- 

 ally not more than 1 inch in diameter, and on the end of this stipe 

 there is borne an umbrella-shaped or cap-shaped portion known as 

 the cap or pileus. The diameter and thickness of this pileus vary 

 greatly in different races or varieties of the cultivated form, and also 

 with the conditions of the environment under which it is produced. 

 The general color of the plant varies in the different varieties from 

 an almost pure white, or cream, to the forms which are deep brown, 

 at Least with reference to the upper surface of the cap. The stem is 

 usually cream or white, and bears on its upper extremity near the 

 cap a ring known as the annulus, which annulus forms a covering 

 and a protecting layer for the delicate under surface of the cap, to 

 the edges of which it was attached previous to the rapid expansion 

 and maturity of the latter. The under surface of the cap is provided 

 with leaf like or gill-like projections, reaching for the most part from 

 the stem to the periphery of the cap. These are termed gills, or 

 "lamellae." They are constantly pink in color in the white or cream- 

 colored species up to the time of (and sometimes even a day after) 

 the separation of the ring from the cap. Subsequently these gills 

 turn brown and even a deep brownish black. In the brown variety 

 the gills are at first grayish brown, but they also become almost black 

 with age. (F. B. 204.) 



Differences in Mushrooms. The differences between the com- 

 mon edible mushroom and the fly agaric and deadly agaric are as 

 follows: (1) The common mushroom has a pileus which is not cov- 

 ered with wart-like scales ; gills which are brownish purple when ma- 

 ture; a nearly cylindrical stalk, which is not hollow, with a ring 

 near the middle, and without a bulbous base sheathed by a mem- 

 brane or by scales. (2) The fly agaric has a pileus marked with 

 prominent warts; gills always white; a stalk, with a large ring 

 around the upper part, and hollow or cottony inside, but solid at the 

 base, where it is bulbous and scaly. (3) The deadly agaric has a 

 pileus without distinct warts; gills which are always white, and a 



* For illustration, see page 663. 



