49 



almost entirely lacking. The cap is from 2 to 5 inches wide, and 

 white, though it varies from smoky-gray to gray-brown, es- 

 pecially as it grows old. The gills when young are pink or flesh- 

 color, and this has proved one of the best marks by which to sep- 

 arate this species from some of the deadly Amanitas, which have 

 white gills. Our plant, moreover, has no volva or cup, the most 

 common badge of the Amanitas. As the plant matures the 

 spores are formed in great abundance on the gills, and as these 

 spores vary in color from brown to brownish'purple, they soon 

 give the gills a dark color, approaching black. The gills are al- 

 so free from the stem, that is they are not joined onto the stem, 

 but merely onto the cap, and are of various lengths, some short, 

 some intermediate, some long. The stem is white, generally sol- 

 id, brittle, and of about the same consistency as the cap, and 

 therefore good as food. It varies in height from i to 3 inches 

 and in diameter from y to ^ of an inch. It is found growing 

 spontaneously in our moist pastures, especially when enriched by 

 the droppings of cattle. The * 'buttons", as previously remarked, 

 are produced upon the white, stringy, underground mycdium, 

 and gradually enlarging push their way into the air to scatter 

 tjheir spores. The vitality of this mycelium or "spawn" is re- 

 markable. It withstands the hottest, driest soils to come out 

 with the first rains of fall as strong and productive as ever. Re- 

 lying upon this capacity in the mycelium to withstand drought, 

 mushroom growers prepare this spawn for the market, and it is 

 then capable of being sent round the world in its dried condition 

 without injury. What follows is taken mainly from Farmers' 

 Bulletin No. 53, United States Department of Agriculture, en- 

 titled "How to Grow Mushrooms", by William Falconer. Two 

 kinds of spawn are in general use amongst our mushroom grow- 



10. Puff balls. The two largest have matured and one 

 shows the mode of opening- to disgorge the spores. The next one, split 

 in two, is somewhat too old for food, the spore mass turning yellow. 

 The smallest one, but a different species, is just in the state for food, 

 being white and solid within. Somewhat reduced. 



