48 BULLETIN 123, U. S. DEPABTMENT OF AGEICULTUKE. 



REVIEW QUESTIONS, LESSON VIII. 



1. Describe seeds of different types. 



2. Why do seeds contain more concentrated nutritive material than other 

 parts of plants. 



3. What groups of seeds are most important for human food? 



4. Describe two principal types of leguminous plants. 



5. What is the main difference in composition between dry beans and fresh 

 shelled beans? 



6. Explain the addition of fat meat in baking beans. 



7. What uses have been found for cotton seeds? 



8. What can you say of buckwheat, its characteristics, growth, and uses? 



9. Mention points in favor of and against grinding peas, beans, etc., into a 

 flour before using them for soups. 



10. Compare canned and dry beans as to cost, labor of preparation, and 

 quality. 



LESSON IX. FUNGI. 



There are many plants quite unlike those already referred to. in 

 that they contain no green coloring matter and are flowerless. Mush- 

 rooms and puffballs are well-known members of this class of plants 

 which is called by the Latin name fungus, and includes many curious 

 specimens of varied sizes, forms, and colors. 



A characteristic of this type of plant life is that it draws its sub- 

 sistence not directly from the earth, but from other organic matter. 

 There are thousands of species thriving either on the living tissues 

 of their hosts or on the cast-off cellular matter of the latter. Some, 

 like the molds, are very minute, while puffballs and toadstools are 

 often very large. 



Many of the larger kinds of fungi are popularly grouped together 

 as mushrooms. Some of these are extremely poisonous; others are 

 harmless, but of no particular culinary value, while there are many 

 edible varieties much esteemed for their delicate and peculiar flavor. 



Many of the edible mushrooms prove irritating to the digestive 

 tract, if used when past their prime, and are then very commonly 

 infested with insect life. None of the common tests of silver spoon, 

 etc., for poisonous varieties are safeguards. 



Mushrooms should be gathered without the adhering earth, the 

 stems broken rather than pulled, for once sand is scattered through 

 the gills it is hard to remove. First wash by floating in water, gills 

 down. Young or button mushrooms need not be peeled, but old ones 

 should have the skin removed, pulling it from the circumference to 

 the center. 



The common market mushroom (Agaricus campestris) « which is 

 often found growing in old pastures, is the only kind commercially 

 cultivated in this county. It grows 2 to 3 inches high, has a cap 

 about as wide when fully expanded, which is a brownish white above 

 and sometimes tinged with pink below. The color deepens as the 



