THE CULTIVATION OF MUSHROOMS 



1375 



Some to be found (or which ought to be 



found) in many public libraries are the 



following: 



♦Atkinson, George F. Mushrooms Ed- 

 ible, Poisonous, etc. (Ithaca, N. Y. 

 Andrus & Church, 1901.) 



Chesnut, V. K. Thirty Poisonous Plants 

 of the United States. (U. S. Dept. of 

 Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin, No. 86. 

 Washington, 1,S!»S.) 



Clements, Frederic E. Minnesota Mush- 

 rooms (being IV of "Minnesota Plant 

 Studies" published by the University 

 of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., 

 1910). 



Duggar, B. M. The Principles of Mush- 

 room Growing and Mushroom Spawn 

 Making. (U. S. Dept. Agriculture, Bu- 

 reau of Plant Industry, Bulletin No. 

 8.5, Washington, 1905.) 



*Farlow, W. G. Some Edible and Poison- 

 ous Fungi. (U. S. Dept. Agriculture, 

 Division of Vegetable Physiology and 

 Pathology, Bulletin No. 15, Washing- 

 ton. 1898.) 



Gibson, W. Hamilton. Our Edible Toad- 

 stools and Mushrooms and How to Dis- 

 tinguish Them. (New York, Harper 

 & Brothers, 1895.) 



*Hard, M. E. The Mushroom Edible and 

 Otherwise, Its Habitat and Its Time of 

 Growth. (Columbus, Ohio, The Ohio 

 Library Co., 1908.) 



Mcllvaine, Charles. One Thousand Amer- 

 ican Fungi. (Indianapolis, Ind., The 

 Bowen-Merrill Company, 1900.) 



California Experiment Station Circular No. 84. 

 THE rrLTIVATIOX OF MUSHROOMS 



TIk- Ciiltitntcd Mnsliroom 



In the United States the term "mush- 

 room" refers commercially to but a single 

 species (Agaricus campestris) of the 

 fleshy fungi, a plant common throughout 

 most of the temperate regions of the 

 world, and one everywhere recognized as 

 edible. From the time of Pliny, and per- 

 haps much earlier, this plant has been 

 sought as an article of diet, and it has 

 been cultivated for many centuries. In 

 the vicinity of Paris it has certainly 



• These are especially recommended for first 

 reading. 



been cultivated in some quantity since 

 the sixteenth century; and, in paintings 

 of market scenes by old masters of the 

 seventeenth century, a basket of mush- 

 rooms frequently finds a place in the 

 composition, thus showing that at that 

 time the sale of mushrooms was gener- 

 ally recognized in a commercial way. 



It is unfortunate that this commercial 

 use of the term "mushroom" restricts It 

 to a single species. The erroneous state- 

 ment is frequently made, therefore, that 

 there is one mushroom, and that all other 

 fleshy fungi are toadstools. In other cases 

 any edible fungus is termed a mushroom, 

 and all of the species not usually eaten 

 are toadstools. It is better to consider 

 all fleshy fungi as mushrooms and to 

 apply special names to species with 

 known qualities. It will be proper, there- 

 fore, to speak of Agaricus campestris as 

 the cultivated mushroom, although it is 

 very probable that in this country, as 

 well as in foreign countries, several other 

 species of mushrooms will in time be 

 highly prized for cultivation. 



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 two to six inches in height, 

 usually not more than one inch in diam- 

 eter, and on the end of this stipe there 

 is borne an umbrella-shaped or cap- 

 shaped portion known as the cap or pi- 

 leus. The diameter and thickness of this 

 pileus vary greatly in diff'erent races or 

 varieties of the cultivated form, and also 

 with the conditions of the environment 

 under which it Is ))roduced. 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 up- 

 per 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 pre- 

 vious to the rapid expansion and ma- 

 turity of (be latter. The under surface 



