3H GENERAL REVIEW. 



in this country have failed. Coprinus comatus is often found 

 . on dunghills near stables, and is one of the best of the edible 

 kinds ; and Agaricus procerus (the Speckled or Parasol Agaric) 

 is equal to the Common Mushroom, and is as well worth arti- 

 ficial culture as a food plant. Fungi, like Ferns, develop male 

 and female organs, after the spore has commenced to germinate 

 the zoospores, containing minute cilia fringed bodies \spermato- 

 zoids] which move rapidly in water, and act in a way analogous 

 to pollen-grains by fertilising the germinal vesicle in the ovary- 

 like, cysts (archegonia). Many of the smaller Fungi are terrible 

 pests, especially Mildew, which attacks Roses, Vines, Melons, 

 Cucumbers, Peaches, and many other cultivated plants ; and 

 the Peronospora infcstans, which works such sad havoc with our 

 Potato crops in wet warm seasons. These the gardener seeks 

 means to destroy rather than means to propagate. So far as 

 edible Fungi are concerned, there is a field of labour open for all 

 who can find time and opportunity to experimentalise on the 

 artificial culture of Truffles and many Agarics which are equally 

 as succulent, delicate in flavour, and nutritious as the Com- 

 mon Mushroom. 



The great essentials to the development of the Common 

 Mushroom are a moderate heat of 60 to 80, accompanied by 

 a humid atmosphere and. a moderate amount of light. Accord- 

 ing to some authorities, they absorb a large amount of nitrogen ; 

 but the direct application of nitrogenic manures to the soil 

 does not appear to influence their growth in the open ground. 

 The Common or edible Mushroom is readily propagated from 

 spawn that is, cakes -or bricks made of horse-dung, cow-dung, 

 loam, and chopped hay well mixed together, and made into 

 flat bricks ; and to these cakes the mycelium of the Mushroom 

 is added, either from a pasture where Mushrooms are found in 

 abundance, or more often from previously made spawn. After 

 the cobweb-like mycelium has spread through the compost in 

 every direction, but before the more perfect silvery threads 

 have time to form, the whole is formed into bricks or cakes, 

 and dried; and curiously enough, the mycelium so treated 

 retains its vitality for a long time, and soon develops itself 

 when placed in a moist firm compost or bed of horse-droppings 

 and soil, in a warm and humid atmosphere. The flat cakes are 

 about 10 inches long by 5 wide, and vary from i^ to 2 inches 

 in thickness. By some spawn-cakes are made of cow-dung, 

 horse-dung (that from horses at grass being best), sheep-dung, 

 loam, and chopped hay, the latter being used to bind the whole 

 firmly together. After these are made, they are laid on laths to 

 become partially dry before the spawn is added. They are 



