372 NATURAL HISTORY. 



and put into an earthen jar, placed on a moderately warm 

 hearth. After remaining thus for half an hour, the 

 cloth will be found to have absorbed much of the juice, 

 Avhich is largely exuded by this simple process ; the cloth 

 still containing the mushrooms must now be well wrung, 

 and the mushrooms, freed entirely from their juices, are 

 now ready for the different modes of preparation in which 

 they are used, either for an every day dish or as a condi- 

 ment for meats. They are often collected and kept for 

 winter use. The mode of preparing them is the same 

 as has just been described. After the juice or watery 

 portion has all been pressed out, they are strung on cords 

 and dried either in the sun or a bake-oven. Any one 

 who does not shun taking a little trouble, might, in his 

 common walk through the woods, learn to recognize the 

 nature of these despised plants, and having done so, 

 would find himself repaid, not only by the interesting 

 study, but also by the acquisition of a wholesome and 

 palatable dish. 



INDIGENOUS POISONOUS PLANTS. 



Poisonous plants are divided into two kinds, acrid and 

 narcotic, founded upon the difference of their operations, 

 although both are attended with the same deadly effect. 

 Some, however, possess the principles belonging to both, 

 therefore, in their effect, they are said to be sharp or 

 acrid narcotics. The most prominent specimens of the 

 simply acrid poisonous plants are the Arum, Savin, and 

 Spurge Laurel; gimply narcotic. Henbane, Deadly 



