FUNGI PERNS LICHENS. 181 



X 



the beginning of October. They are very useful 

 in hastening the decay and removal of dead-wood, 

 as it is upon this that the greatest part of them live. 

 Mushrooms, toad-stools, puff-balls, fairy-purses, 

 and many others, are very common in our fields 

 and lanes. 



Some of the fungi, as mushrooms, morels, and 

 truffles, are fit for food ; others are poisonous, and 

 we should be very careful in collecting them, not 

 to eat any but such as we know are esculent, many 

 accidents having happened to children, from a want 

 of proper caution. The seeds of mushrooms are 

 very numerous, and grow in the gills as they are 

 termed, that is, the ribbed part on the under side 

 of the head or cap. It has been calculated that 

 several millions are contained in a single plant. 



Ferns are amongst the most graceful productions 

 of the vegetable kingdom. They are found adorn- 

 ing shady lanes, and woody slopes, with their 

 slender stems, and delicate foliage. Nothing can 

 exceed the beauty and delicacy of the half unrolled 

 leaves of a young fern, and we should never pass 

 one, without pausing a moment to admire it, and 

 to wonder at the wisdom which has so charmingly 

 clothed it. In hot countries, ferns grow thirty or 

 forty feet high, and look like trees. The roots 

 and stems of this species of plants, when ground, 

 are said to afford a very tolerable food. 



In very cold countries, where corn and other 

 field-vegetables will not live, the ground is covered 

 by lichens and moss. The care of Almighty God 

 Q 



