82 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 314. 



field crops and vegetables a marked increase was obtained, 

 in one instance the crop being more than doubled, while the 

 same treatment injured certain other crops. What we 

 know certainly seems to be that the artificial use of elec- 

 tricity, either in the air or soil, about plants may exert a 

 powerful influence upon them, but the character of this in- 

 fluence varies with the species. This seems to be one 

 more illustration of the fact that plants respond to external 

 forces in accordance with their race-history or the long 

 course of their development and adaptation to different 

 conditions. What we already know is of some practical 

 value. Some market-gardeners are already using the elec- 

 tric light in forcing plants, and they think that it pays. 

 That this powerful agent may be utilized to advantage 

 with increased knowledge, seems not at all improbable. 

 That as yet we know so little is not a fact that should dis- 

 courage us ; enough has been demonstrated to justify fur- 

 ther experiments both with the light and with direct 

 electrification. 



Notes for Mushroom-eaters. — VI. 



PUFF-BALLS AND MORELS. 



BESIDES the groups of fungi already mentioned, 

 which include by far the greater part of the edi- 

 ble and poisonous forms, there are the Puff-balls, with 

 which every one is familiar. These fungi could hardly 

 be called toadstools in any sense, for, excepting the re- 

 lated Stink-horns, which have a disgusting odor of carrion, 

 and certain forms known only to the special student, they 

 do not have a stalk and expanded top, but they appear on 

 the surface of the ground in the shape of solid balls, which 

 break open at the top when ripe, showing a powdery mass 

 within. The Puff-balls are, as a rule, quite safe, and 

 have a good flavor, provided they are eaten while the inte- 

 rior is still solid and before the central portion has become 

 powdery. One very common species, Scleroderma vul- 

 gare, is regarded with suspicion, and on that account we 

 give a figure of the species (see Fig. 17), remarking that our 

 other species may probably be regarded as safe. In the 

 doubtful species figured the outer envelope is )'ellowish 

 brown and warted, and the interior, even when pretty 

 young and solid, is of a mottled purple-black. The Giant 

 Puff-ball is not unfrequently forty inches in circumference and 

 of a white color when in condition to be eaten. When mature, 

 in which condition it should not be eaten, the interior is 

 a mass of greenish-yellow powder. The Giant Puff-ball is 

 not common with us, unfortunately, though another smaller, 

 but good-sized, species is often abundant, and at times 

 even does injury to lawns, which it disfigures by the fairy- 

 rings which it forms. This species, Lycoperdon cyathi- 

 forme, has not the flattened oval shape of the Giant Puff- 

 ball, but is usually broader above and narrowed below. 



Fig. 17.- 



Scleroderma vulgare. b. A section of the same. 



Furthermore, at maturity, it is filled with a purple, not a 

 yellow, powder. Besides these two large species we have 

 a considerable number of smaller species often furnished 

 with spines or warts on the surface. The writer has eaten 

 several of them, and there is no record of injury done by 

 eating any of them. 



The question is often asked, Have we any Truffles in this 

 country? We have a few members of the Truffle family, 



but they are among the botanical rarities, and none of our 

 species are the same as the highly prized species of France 

 and Italy. Our only edible Truffles are to be found at the 

 grocers', and they are all imported in tin cans from France, 

 the price being high and the quality dubious. One not un- 

 frequently receives native specimens which are supposed 

 to be Truffles, but they invariably prove to be something 

 else, and generally some form of Puff-ball. The species 



Fig. 18 — Morchella escuienta. 

 a. Morel, slightly reduced, b. A section of the same— edible. 



most frequently sent is Scleroderma Geaster, which grows 

 partly buried in the soil, and which, according to corre- 

 spondents, is palatable, although one would not have sus- 

 pected it. 



We can here mention but one more species, the Morel, 

 the best of all fungi, excepting, perhaps, Truffles. Botan- 

 ically speaking, the Morel is not closely related to the 

 family of the toadstools, but its shape might strike the un- 

 initiated as something like that of a toadstool. Morels are 

 found only in late spring or early summer, much earlier 

 than the mushroom, in grassy places under trees. Fig. 18 

 shows their general appearance, which is unmistakable. 

 As the section shows, the fungus is a sort of hollow shell, 

 the upper part of which is honeycombed or pitted with cup- 

 shaped depressions, externally. The lower part or stalk is 

 somewhat granular, the color is pale yellow and the sub- 

 stance somewhat waxy. It should be borne in mind, as 

 shown in the figure, that the pitted upper part and the stalk 

 are continuous, for we have a species of doubtful character 

 in which the upper part is more or less wrinkled, not pitted, 

 and not continued directly into the stem. However, after 

 having seen our figure, no one of ordinary powers of ob- 

 servation is likely to confound the two. 



From the foregoing we may summarize the following 

 rules for the guidance of the fungus-gatherer; although 

 there are numerous exceptions with which experts are 

 familiar, the novice is forced to adopt arbitrary rules : 



1. Avoid collecting fungi in the button stage, since in 

 their unexpanded condition poisonous species may be 

 easily mistaken for edible species. 



2. Avoid all fungi which have around the base of the 

 stalk (stipe) a sac like or scaly envelope (volva). 



3. Avoidall fungi having a milky juice, unless the milk 

 is reddish. 



4. Avoid all fungi in which the cap (pileus) is thin in 

 proportion to the gills, and in which the gills are nearly all 

 of equal length, especially if the pileus is bright-colored. 



