44 



and water, and, after steeping in vinegar, she washed them again, 

 cooked them in gravy, and served with beefsteak! Though it is 

 by no means certain that these poisons could be got rid of by salt 

 and vinegar, if they have already been introduced into the ali- 

 mentary canal, still it would be well worth remembering and giv- 

 ing them a trial, if one s ould have eaten of poisonous kinds, and 

 should have found it out before the poisons had been absorbed 

 into the blood, and were nevertheless so far removed from medical 

 aid as to render summoning it impossible or unavailing. 



The Growth of a Mushroom, With Names of Parts. 



Very briefly now will be given the development of a mushroom, 

 while at the same time the parts necessary to an understanding of 

 what has gone before or what may follow will be explained. 



Mushrooms, like many other plants, produce spores, not seeds. 

 These spores sooner or later germinate, and give rise to a fine, 

 generally white, string)^ underground porcion called \\\emycelium. 

 This mycelium has been observed by probably every one at some 

 period of their lives, if they have ever pulled the bark from a rot- 

 .ten log, stirred up the deep humus in 'a forest, or opened up a pile 

 of mauure or an old straw-stack. The mycelium ot the different 

 mushrooms or toadstools is very generally dispersed, and though 

 it may remain more or less dormant through the cold of winter or 

 the dry, hot period of summer, especially if the soil has been de- 

 prived of its moisture naturally or artificially, yet as soon as the 

 sun of spring shall have warmed the soil or the rains of fall shall 

 have moistened it sufficiently, little enlargements are formed on 

 the mycelium, which, sooner or later, and ordinarily with ex- 

 treme rapidity, develop into the "buttons," or young mushrooms, 

 and these proceed to force themselves through the soil and grow 

 upward into the air. This aerial portion is merely a device for 

 carrying the spore-bearing part of the fungus above the surface of 

 the soil, and aiding in the dissemination of the spores by the 

 winds. In many cases the spore-bearing body, called sporophore, 



