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STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



the basket, if there are any mushrooms which are quite large, they 

 are placed in the bottom. The custom of the operator here is dif- 

 ferent from that of the grower of apples, or of other fruit, where the 

 larger and finer samples are often placed on top, the smaller ones 

 being covered below. It is a curious fact, however, that this prac- 

 tice of placing the largest mushrooms below in the basket is due to 

 the fact that usually the larger mushrooms are not considered so 

 marketable. 



Figure 238. View in packing room, Akron " tunnel," N. Y. Mushroom Co.; placing 

 muslirooms in basket. Copyright. 



There are several reasons why the larger mushrooms are not 

 considered so desirable or marketable as the medium-sized or 

 smaller ones. In the first place, the larger mushrooms, under cer- 

 tain conditions, especially those grown in house culture at a com- 

 paratively high temperature, are apt to be very ripe, so that the 

 gills are black from over-ripe spores, and are thus somewhat un- 

 sightly. Those grown at a lower temperature, as is the case in 

 some mines, do not blacken so soon, and are therefore apt to be free 

 from this objection. Another objection, however, is on the part of 



