COMMON AMERICAN MUSHROOMS 



587 



of all the death-cups ; but it should all be studied and used 

 with the greatest caution. 



In a brief article like this one, it will be quite impossible 

 to give any rules for gathering the various kinds of edible 

 mushrooms ; in fact, were the article three times its length, 

 it is far safer not to do so. However, should any one of 

 our forest lovers have a leaning towards the study of these 

 fungi so many of which are so fatal to the best trees 

 of the forests and our orchards it is well to know that an 

 entire division of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture is given over to the consideration of these growths 

 in nature. Bulletin No. 15 is an excellent example of 

 these publications, while every civilized country on the 

 globe has contributed to the literature of this subject. 



So dangerous is the poison found in some of the fatal 

 Amanita family of mushrooms that, as Dr. W. W. Ford 

 has shown, it can only be rendered inert through long 

 boiling in the strongest acids known to the chemist. 



The part played by fungi in nature reads like a fairy- 

 tale ; so fascinating has it been found to be, and so in- 

 tense is the desire of many people to be able to diagnose 



the various fungi including all known species of mush- 

 rooms found in this country, that we find in many of our 

 large cities mushroom clubs, organized for no other pur- 

 pose than to cultivate the science of mycology, and to ex- 

 tend the knowledge they acquire in such a way as* to 

 reach and be of use to the greatest number of people. 



Many fungi are the deadliest of all known enemies of 

 trees and the various kinds of grain. The "diseases" are 

 known as rust and as blisters, such as the "black-stem 

 rust" that a few years ago destroyed tons upon tons of 

 wheat in this country and in Canada ; while all will 

 remember the damage done to the chestnut trees by still 

 another fungus ten or twelve years before, which 

 destroyed indeed, near exterminated them. Now comes 

 the danger to the pine through the "White Pine blister" 

 a most fatal form of fungus, demanding all the attention 

 that the expert possesses of such enemies to successfully 

 combat, in that thousands of acres of pines shall not be 

 exterminated in various parts of the country where it has 

 made its appearance. It, too, is a fungus and a cousin of 

 the toadstools. ,.. Njf' 



DO WIN THh: ROAU 



One way to leave a camp fire so that it will make a forest fire 



