NATURE STUDY MADE EASY 



107 



this new mushrooms grow very quickly. You can see this for 

 yourself if you cut off the stem of a full-grown common mushroom. 

 Lay the cap, gills downward, on white paper. Let it lie for some 

 hours. Then lift it up, and you will find fine brown grains like 

 powder on the paper. These are the spores of the mushroom. 



From these spores you can produce new mushrooms. Lay a 

 number of them on good meadow soil. Soon little white cords 

 will appear. This is the spawn. 

 This spawn will spread and 

 spread and draw water and food 

 from the soil. Soon tiny round 

 bodies will appear on these 

 threads. Some are very tiny, 

 like peas ; some grow larger, like 

 marbles. These are the buttons, or 

 the beginnings of the mushroom. 



If the buttons are left a while, a cap will grow over them, and 

 a big flat mushroom will result. 



Some people pick the buttons before they spread out, and 

 pickle them in jars; some prefer the flat mushrooms. They can 

 fry or broil or stew them. 



Some mushrooms shoot up in a single night. Most require only a 

 few days for growth. You can pass through a field one day and not 

 see a single mushroom. They are quietly growing out of sight. The 

 next day you can gather basketfuls in the same meadow. They 

 have come up in the night. The edible mushroom, which grows so 



CLUMP OF MUSHROOMS 



