January 31, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



43 



to the products of this land itself. In the severe grandeur 

 of its accomplishment the fundamental idea now appears 

 dignified and appropriate, and speaks to the heart with a 

 truly antique simplicity. 



Here, we are far away from the brilliant and aristocratic 

 quarters of Berlin, in a faubourg peopled with working- 

 men and humble folk, and somewhat ironically called the 

 " Voightland. " On a gently sloping elevation rises the 

 primitive structure of rough stones, vaguely recalling the 

 cyclopean walls of Greece or Italy. No trace of the hand 

 of man is visible upon it. Two enormous longitudinal 

 blocks (see page 46) seem to have been set, one upon 

 the other, by the,arms of giants. A third, equally colossal, 

 but round in shape, lies beside them, while a multitude of 

 large and small stones advance unsymmetrically to the 

 right and the left, in an irregularity which is at once har- 

 monious and picturesque, the whole being a faithful copy 

 of primitive Nature as revealed upon this very soil. 



The upper of the two great monoliths was found near 

 Charlottenburg. Itis of a pure deep rose-color and strangely 

 traversed by irregular blackish veins, which mingle upon 

 its surface as in a mystic design. With the other, placed 

 at a lower level, it forms a little grotto, which is sealed 

 with a slab of marble — the only trace of human art — bear- 

 ing, in German, this inscription : 



To the Memory of A. von Humboldt, 



the City of Berlin. 



1869. 1S87. 



A Lotus-blossom is sculptured beside it. The date 1887 

 marks the completion of the monument, which, contrary to 

 custom, was never inaugurated by any official solemnit)', 

 but only by a modest ceremony organized by the Histori- 

 cal Society of Berlin, with Herr Friedel, as president, at its 

 head. 



A living spring of water trickles from the concavity of 

 the rock, to disappear in the neighboring grounds as a little 

 rivulet. From the platform in front of the cairn there 

 opens a charming view across the vast lawn, separated 

 into two parts by a bosquet of foliage. Farther away the 

 eye wanders amid the verdure of the park, rich in rare 

 plants, beyond which are groups of houses which, accord- 

 ing to the character of the district, have nothing remark- 

 able about them. Above all rest the golden vapors of the 

 city. 



Happily, trees existed here before building was begun. 

 The middle distance behind the megalithic monument is, 

 therefore, verdurous, with a little grove of Locusts already 

 fully grown. A new plantation would have contrasted too 

 forcibly with the archaic aspect of the structure. Citizens 

 of the great Republic so beloved by Humboldt, may well 

 consider it an homage to their country that trees of an 

 American species throw their shade upon this sacred soil. 

 Certain Spruces from Norway, sickly and smothered by 

 the urban atmosphere, count for little. The plants which 

 adorn the cenotaph itself are few and provisional. Lost 

 among these blocks of stone, they will always play a sub- 

 ordinate role. In the near vicinity, however, a richer 

 development of vegetation will probably be secured later 

 on. At present some Heaths and Saxifrages suffice to give 

 an appearance of verdure to these solid masses which 

 nourish nothing else except some dwarf Yews and a little 

 Ivy. For my own part, I proposed, as a setting for this 

 spot, surroundings of grandiose vegetation composed of 

 trees and shrubs connected either with the person of Hum- 

 boldt or with his labors and his writings. I even devel- 

 oped this idea in a pamphlet which has been published. 

 Thus far nothing of the sort has been realized. With re- 

 gard to one point, however, I am sure that my intention 

 will be accomplished. Recently two magnificent speci- 

 mens of Dracaena Draco have been brought here as a 

 present from a resident of Teneriffe. They are soon to be 

 placed as sentinels in front of the monument ; in pots, of 

 course, as their tropical origin forbids their being planted 

 in the soil itself. These classic trees, still young, will 



stand as witnesses to an incident intimately connected 

 with the juvenile impressions of Humboldt. There was 

 formerly in Berlin an ancient specimen of this Dracaena, 

 which had lived for more than a century in the Botanical 

 Garden ; and it first drew the attention of the boy to the 

 marvelous vegetation of foreign lands, filling him with an 

 ardent desire to study it more closely himself some day. 

 Thus, thanks to the vivid imagination of a child, the first 

 step was taken toward so many discoveries, and toward 

 the creation of botanical geography. This was the writing 

 by the way-side, showing afar off those enchanted regions 

 which the unrivaled traveler was later to visit and to con- 

 quer for science. It will be agreed that the two monoco- 

 tyledons from the Canary Islands deserve their places. 



The fateful old Dracaena no longer exists ; but it is 

 pleasing to think of the young plants in question as the 

 descendants of this colossus of Orotavo so well described 

 by Humboldt and so well known to myself. Alas, a tem- 

 pest has uprooted this witness to another ag-e. „ 



Berlin. & C. Bolk. 



Notes for Mushroom-eaters. — II. 



WE can now pass to the principal modifications of the 

 toadstool stage, since the variations in the spawn do 

 not enable the fungus-gatherer to distinguish poisonous from 

 edible forms. After a button has reached a certain size, if 

 we section it longitudinally, we see the beginning of the 

 stalk in the centre, and closing over it the part which is to 

 expand into the top. The stalk, which is called by botan- 

 ists the stipe, soon pushes upward, and the top, the 

 pileus, opens, and, according to the species, there will 

 be found on the underside a series of plates like blades of 

 a knife, called gills, radiating from the stipe ; a compact 

 mass of tubes, lying side by side, and pointing down- 

 ward, or a series of teeth. The reproductive bodies, cor- 

 responding in function to seeds, are borne almost always 

 in groups of fours on the surface of the gills, tubes or 

 teeth, and easily drop off when ripe. They are micro- 

 scopic taken individually, but collectively appear as a mass 

 of powder, which can easily be caught by cutting off the 

 stipe and letting the pileus rest for a few hours, with the 

 gills or tubes downward, on a piece of paper. A knowl- 

 edge of the microscopic details of a Toadstool are not 

 necessary to the understanding of the rules for distinguish- 

 ing edible from poisonous forms, and the reader wishing 

 information on the subject should consult botanical trea- 

 tises. For our purpose we can classify the bulk of the 

 edible and poisonous fungi under the heads of Gill-bearing 

 fungi (Agaricineas), Tube-bearing fungi (Polyporieae) and 

 Teeth-bearing fungi (Hydneae). After obtaining a con- 

 ception of the essential points of these three groups we can 

 pass to a brief consideration of a few smaller groups in 

 which edible forms are found. 



Let us begin with the Gill-bearing fungi, an enormous 

 group of plants familiar to every one. It is very important 

 at the outset to learn to recognize what are the constant 

 marks to be found in species of this group as distinguished 

 from the variable characters which cannot be depended 

 upon. Naturally, the uninitiated consider the color of the 

 pileus to be important, but it should be remarked that the 

 color of the pileus cannot be depended upon, for, while 

 there are species in which the pileus has a nearly constant 

 color, there are others in which it may vary from brilliant 

 red to brilliant yellow, and with age most species lose their 

 bright colors. If the color of the pileus in any given spe- 

 cies is variable, and therefore of comparatively little im- 

 portance, it should be borne in mind that the color of the 

 spores, on the other hand, is practically constant, and in 

 distinguishing edible from poisonous forms it is a question 

 of primary importance, What is the color of the spores? 

 Although the color of the spores can in man)'- cases be in- 

 ferred from the color of the gills, tubes or teeth when ma- 

 ture, one cannot always be certain. The only sure way 

 is to observe the color of the spores which have fallen. 

 Since many species have white or brown spores, they are 



