MUSHROOM. 161 



show itself on the surface, the bed should be covered with a 

 layer one inch thick of fine, slightly moist soil, which should 

 be pressed down smoothly and firmly. In damp cellars mush- 

 room beds do not need water, but if the surface gets dry they 

 should be watered with tepid water from a fine rose watering- 

 pot. The mushrooms should show in from five to eight weeks, 

 and the bed continue to yield for two or three months. The 

 spawn bricks, as they are termed by seedsmen, are simply flat 

 square pieces of a mixture of manure and loam into which 

 spawn has been put and has grown until it fills the whole 

 piece. Afterwards these bricks are dried and form the mush- 

 room bricks of commerce. 



Native Mushrooms. There are quite a number of native 

 mushrooms that are edible, but since there are also several 

 poisonous kinds one should be careful about trying unknown 



Fig. 85.— Native Mushrooms. On the left is shown the giant puff ball (Lyco- 

 perdongiganteum); on the right maned agaric (Coprinus comatus), 

 in various stages of maturity. 



sorts. Among the edible kinds are the several sorts known as 

 puff balls [Lycoperdon.) When these first appear, they are 

 white balls of a fleshy texture with little or no stalk: as they 

 ripen, the flesh turns gradually to a dark brown, and finally 

 the spores are ejected by the ball being crushed or naturally 

 breaking open. They are not fit to eat after the flesh begins 

 to turn brown. The smaller sorts are most common, but the 

 giant puff ball is occasionally met with and is often ten or 

 more inches in diameter. 



Another common native mushroom is shown in figure 85. 



