3 68 MY GARDEN. 



with fungus, which renders the taste most disagreeable, although the 

 outward appearance is good. For this reason I have directed my fruit- 

 room to be well cleaned at the end of September, and then to have 

 sulphur burnt in it, so as thoroughly to destroy all fungus mycelium 

 During this winter I have burned once a week a piece of sulphur the 

 size of a bean on a red-hot cinder. "So great is the success which 

 has attended this operation, that I strongly advise everyone who has a 

 fruit-room to use sulphureous fumes once or twice a week ; and in fact 

 whenever any article of food is liable to be covered with fungus, 

 sulphur should be burnt. 



Berkeley states that the black specks which are common on 

 apples, and occasionally multiplied so much as to make them unsale- 

 able, are due to a fungus of the genus Spilocrea. 



We do not escape the ravages of the Dry-rot, which is a fungus 

 (Merulius lacrymans, fig. 857). A moist, still atmosphere is most 

 favourable to its growth, and hence it is very destructive in cellars. 

 To prevent its ravages, wood is sometimes soaked in corrosive 

 sublimate or creosote, which is driven into the pores of the wood 



FIG. 857. Dry-rot, with Spores magnified. FIG. 858. Sarcina ventriculi. 



A current of air and free ventilation is an antidote to it, and I have 

 found a solution of the bi-sulphide of lime brushed over the wood a 

 good application. The vapour of burnt sulphur may also be used 

 with advantage. As the mycelium of this fungus spreads from place 

 to place, it is usual to remove all affected wood to prevent it from 

 spreading. 



Various fungi live upon animal bodies as well as upon vegetal. 

 Of the various fungi which attack man, the Sarciua ventriculi 

 (fig. 858) may be mentioned as an example. 



