VEGETABLES 69 



the beds and cleansing, limewashing, and disinfect- 

 ing the house, but it is not prevalent in the open air. 



Millipedes are small threadlike creatures that 

 sometimes infest the beds, showing that the 

 manure has not been sufficiently heated and puri- 

 fied. Sometimes very minute insects infest mush- 

 room beds, especially if the manure is too dry, 

 and generally one or two ounces of salt dissolved 

 in a gallon of tepid water will destroy the pests. 



Mr. Charles Bateson says : * If sugar and plaster 

 of Paris are mixed together and strewn about an 

 inch thick all round and on the top of the bed, the 

 insects will speedily disappear.' 



To tell if Mushrooms are of the edible kind. — 

 Wash them in vinegar and water, and wipe them 

 dry and put them into a saucepan full of cold salted 

 water, to w^hich a peeled onion has been added. If 

 during the process of cooking the onion remains 

 white, the mushrooms are fit to eat ; but if it 

 becomes black or slightly discoloured, they are 

 poisonous. 



The best plan to remove all peril from using 

 them is to examine every one that is gathered^ and 

 if doubtful throw it away. Real mushrooms, says 

 Worthington Smith in his little treatise, ' Mush- 

 rooms and Toadstools,' are known by their beautiful 

 pink gills not reaching the stem, which stem carries 

 a well-marked white, woolly ring, by the very fleshy 

 down-covered top, the delicious and enticing fra- 

 grance, the firm white flesh sometimes inclined to 

 pink when broken. 



