582 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the sun and wind, and an immediate record made in the 

 field note-book of all the colors and their exact distribu- 

 tion on each specimen so collected. They must be pho- 

 tographed on the same day they are gathered, their natu- 

 ral surroundings being simulated as closely as possible. 

 It may be said here that, with but few exceptions, all of 

 the pictures here shown were so photographed, the ex- 

 ceptions having been secured as they occurred in nature. 

 These fungi grow in all sorts of places in open mead- 

 ows and pasture lands; along roadsides and water- 

 courses ; in many parts of open and shady woods ; in de- 

 serted buildings where there is but little sunlight and no 

 fresh air circulates; while, finally, many curious fungi 

 jrow on old logs, dying trees, and in numerous other 



tats, they are invariably interesting in a great many in- 

 stances extremely beautiful. None of them can thrive 

 except under certain conditions, as not only is their food 

 peculiar, but they die if warmth and moisture are with- 

 drawn. Consequently we find such species as puflf-balls, 

 brackets, and any or all of the so-called toadstools, thriv- 

 ing in various localities where not only their environ- 

 ment is favorable, but where there exist lich soils, as 

 cattle pastures, or plenty of rotting timber and decaying 

 leaves. It is upor< such material that most fungi sub- 

 sist ; for, at variance with ordinary plant growths, fungi 

 thrive on organic matter only, instead of on mineral or 

 inorganic substances. 



Plants, like every other living thing, die if not more 



FIG. 8 FUNGI FATAL TO FOREST TREES 



This wonderful group of deep, brilliant orange toadstoods are seen to be growing on a bank of pale yellow clay, which Is offset 

 by the dark woods in the rear. (Much reduced.) They are Armillaria mellea, a parasitic fungus, most fatal to large forest trees. 

 They spring in hundreds from the bark, and the doomed tree soon dies. , 



places. The species known to be edible are called mush- 

 rooms by most people, while all the suspected ones are 

 designated as toadstools. 



There is a long myth story as to how the "fairy-rings" 

 are made upon our grass-plats and on grassy hillsides 

 the curious fungus Oreades killing the grass in circles; 

 but, while it is a very pretty tale, and has been enlarged 

 upon in various ways, it is too long to give our readers 

 here. A writer at hand says that "such rings are con- 

 spicuous on the lawns of the White House at Washington, 

 and are often to be seen well defined on distant hillsides." 



There is a long list of fungi indigenous to this coun- 

 try ; and when observed growing in their natural habi- 



or less regularly supplied with such foods as are con- 

 verted into anatomic structure after digestion and ab- 

 sorption. In the case of ordinary plants, their green 

 leafage absorb the gases of oxygen and hydrogen from 

 water, and carbon from the atmosphere, and these, 

 through a certain process of plant physiology, are con- 

 verted into compounds of sugar, wood, and starch. Thus 

 it will be seen that dead mineral matter is, by certain 

 green elements in leaves, converted into living substances, 

 and nowhere else in nature do we meet with anything 

 approaching such a transformation. 



Now fungi subsist largely on foods furnished by ele- 

 ments produced by ordinary or green plants, no small 



