December i, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



469 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office: Tribune Building, New Yori;. 



Conducted bv 



Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERHD AS SHCOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1897. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Article : — Poisonous Mushrooms 469 



Notes on Cultivated Conifers. — IX.. C. S. S. 469 



Autumn Fruits in the Pines Mrs. Mary Treat. 471 



New or Little-known Plants: — AInus tinctoria. (With figure) C. S. S. 472 



Foreign Correspondence : — Chrysanthemums IV. Watson. 472 



Cultural Department: — Greenhouse Cultivation for Amateurs.. J. N. Gerard. 474 



Autumn Protection E. O. Orpet 475 



Wintering Bedding Stock T. D. Hatfield. 476 



Irisalata J. N. G. 476 



The Forest : — Forestry in Women's Ciubs. — II M. B. C. 476 



Notes 47 s 



Illustration : — Alnus tinctoria, Fig. 59 473 



Poisonous Mushrooms. 



THE two cases of poisoning from eating Amanita mus- 

 caria, one terminating fatally, which occurred recently 

 in the city of Washington, tend to strengthen the belief 

 that it is almost hopeless to expect that the time will ever 

 come when a knowledge of the distinctive marks of our 

 common poisonous fungi will be so widely spread that 

 serious accidents need not be feared. The victim in this 

 case was Count de Vecchi, a man of intelligence, educated 

 in Italy, and supposed to be well informed about edible 

 and poisonous fungi. Furthermore, there was evidence to 

 show that he had in his possession and had apparently re- 

 cently consulted a pamphlet in which the dangerous A. 

 muscaria was described and figured, and yet, in spite of all 

 this, he deliberately selected that poisonous species for his 

 table. If Count de Vecchi could be thus mistaken, what 

 could be expected of persons of less education and expe- 

 rience ? 



The present case should serve as a warning in several 

 respects. In some parts of the country there has sprung 

 up suddenly a mania for fungus-eating, which has been 

 carried to such an extent that not a small number of per- 

 sons have convinced themselves that nearly all our larger 

 toadstools are not only not injurious, but really palatable. 

 It is, of course, useless to question what is a matter of taste, 

 but when it goes so far that it is seriously maintained that 

 even A. muscaria is edible, as is claimed by some enthu- 

 siastic mycophagists, the present fatal case is decidedly 

 instructive. The determination of the fungus was made by 

 experts of the Agricultural Department, and it cannot be 

 supposed that they were not familiar with this common 

 species. Even were it true that A. muscaria is sometimes 

 poisonous and sometimes not — and it should be borne in 

 mind that this assumption has never yet been shown to be 

 a fact — the present case shows that it certainly is not a 

 species to be eaten. 



As articles of food fungi belong to a quite different 

 category from that of other substances. In the case of 

 meat the butcher knows what he is about when he sells, 

 and his customer in buying knows that, however he may 

 be cheated as to price and quality, he is not purchasing 

 what may kill him in a few hours. Fungi are rather to be 



compared with drugs in an apothecary's shop, where, with 

 some which are harmless, are others which are highly poi- 

 sonous, and none but persons of special training are allowed 

 to dispense them. The danger of mistake through ignor- 

 ance is recognized and the conditions of the sale of drugs 

 are regulated by law. In countries where fungi are largely 

 eaten the danger of mistaking harmful for harmless species 

 is recognized, and experts are appointed to examine fungi 

 offered for sale. So far the comparative exemption from 

 fungus-poisoning in this country has been due to the fact 

 that dealers have been afraid to sell, and purchasers to buy, 

 anything but the cultivated mushroom, Agaricus campestris, 

 or, perhaps, in a few eastern cities, Coprinus comatus. This 

 caution has been carried so far that, a few years ago, a 

 gentleman in Washington who raised large quantities of a 

 delicious native species closely resembling the common 

 mushroom, was obliged to abandon the culture on a large 

 scale because no dealer could be persuaded to buy his 

 fungi in spite of their close resemblance to the ordinary 

 mushroom. 



Considering the increasing fondness for fungi in this 

 country and knowing that it is next to hopeless to suppose 

 that persons who are fond of eating fungi will be able to be- 

 come experts in distinguishing edible from poisonous species, 

 the time seems to have arrived when the sale of fungi 

 should be controlled by law. During the winter months, 

 especially in the northern states, practically nothing is sold 

 but the cultivated mushroom, and there is no need of 

 restricting the sale at that season. But during the summer 

 months when, in some parts of the country, it is the cus- 

 tom for farmers and others to bring to market fungi which 

 they have found growing wild, they should be compelled 

 to sell their goods only at authorized places and authorized 

 hours, and there should be appointed experts to examine 

 all fungi sold. The experts could be paid wholly or in part 

 by fees received from those selling fungi. This system 

 has worked well in parts of France and Italy, especially in 

 towns of moderate size. In very large cities, as a rule, the 

 variety of fungi offered for sale is smaller than in towns 

 situated in rural districts. Although we advise the appoint- 

 ment of expert examiners, the advantage to be derived 

 thereby will not probably be so great as in countries like 

 France and Italy. There fungi form a larger portion of 

 the food of the poorer classes than with us. In this country 

 the greatest danger at the present time is that the upper 

 and middle classes, with whom it is becoming more and 

 more the fashion to collect fungi in the fields and woods 

 for their own consumption, will, perhaps, trust too much 

 to chance and exceed the bounds of ordinary prudence. 

 We are, perhaps, warranted in believing that the amateur 

 fungus collector of the present day is attracted not alto- 

 gether by the intrinsic value of fungi as food, but finds a 

 certain pleasure in the knowledge that he is running some 

 risk of being poisoned. However that may be, there is 

 good reason why the sale of fungi should be guarded by 

 law in the interest of those who neither pretend nor can be 

 expected to have any clear knowledge of the species which 

 may be offered for sale. 



Notes on Cultivated Conifers. — IX. 



MOST of the Pines with thickened cone-scales and 

 coarse-grained resinous wood produce their leaves 

 in clusters of two or of three with persistent sheaths. There 

 is, however, a small group of this section with leaves in from 

 one to five leaved clusters and deciduous sheaths, and to 

 this belong the so-called Nut Pines or Pinons of the arid 

 regions of the south-western United States, northern Mexico 

 and Lower California. There are four of these Nut Pines, 

 all inhabitants of the United States and all small, round- 

 topped trees, with rigid spinescent leaves, small globose 

 cones of few scales and large edible seeds, which furnish to 

 some of the desert Indians their principal supply of food ; 

 and they all grow in company with desert Junipers in 

 regions too dry for other trees. Two of the Nut Pines, 



