COMMON MUSHROOMS OF THE UNITED STATES 



401 



Pliotograpli l)y A. G. ami 1'.. l^ecper 



THE BRTCK-RKD II vpi loi.OMA (HypJiolojiia siiblatcvitium) . edibility doubtful 



Few mushrooms are commoner than the Brick-top. It grows in dense clusters at the base 

 of old chestnut and oak trees. About one-half natural size. 



we were apprised of the fact that mush- 

 room-^s^rowing- is also one of his accom- 

 plishments. 



Scientific travelers in Java and South 

 America record that some of the larger 

 species, the termites, construct veritable 

 mushroom-cellars, in which they ''culti- 

 vate" (on the mycelium of some large 

 fungi) little globular bodies as food for 

 themselves. 



Mushroom-growing is a most tmcertain 

 business unless conditions favorable to 

 the growth of the spawn are rigidly 

 maintained. The ants know this, too, and 

 take precautions necessary to insure a 

 good "crop." 



THE COMMON MEADOW MUSH- 

 ROOM (Agaricus campester) 



{Sec Color Plate I) 



When the average person uses the word 

 "mushroom" the common Meadow mushroom, 

 or Pink Gill {Agaricus camfyester) is meant 

 (see Color Plate I and photographs on page 

 400). Imported from France in enormous 

 quantities before the war; cultivated by our 

 own growers with ever-increasing zeal, and 

 gathered in the wild state as soon as it makes 



its appearance in the fall, it is so well known 

 that even the most timid feel no hesitation in 

 ordering their juicy tenderloin "smothered 

 with mushrooms." 



The records, however, show that not infre-- 

 qucntl}^ other deleterious species are eaten 

 along with, or in the place of, the common 

 mushroom. It therefore behooves the eater of 

 mushrooms to be as cautious with this species 

 as he would be with one less well known. 



Of course, only the most careless or unin- 

 formed would mistake the poisonous Amanitas 

 for the Agaricus; but there are other poison- 

 ous species, not necessarily deadly, that are 

 apt to get by the eye and into the mouth if one 

 is unaware of, or neglects to observe, the 

 botanical characters that distinguish the good 

 from the bad. Species that are likely to be 

 mistaken for the common mushroom are dis- 

 cussed further on. 



Remarks on the preparation of the Meadow 

 mushroom for the table are superfluous, as any 

 cook-book will give full directions. 



The common Meadow mushroom is at home 

 in grassy places, lawns, pastures; never in 

 thick woods; also (when cultivated) in cellars, 

 caves, abandoned mines, and in other places 

 where the temperature can be held between 

 50° and 65° F. and where moisture conditions 

 can be controlled ; time, when growing wild, in 

 .\ugust and September, occasionally in the 

 spring; when cultivated under suitable condi- 

 tions, throughout the year; distribution, cos- 

 mopolitan. 



