REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST I9OO I33 



reasons, insect-proof, tin cases have been procured for the reception of 

 specimens of this kind. They are of sufficient size to receive the herba- 

 rium sheets and so constructed that, when closed, no insect can enter 

 them. Also a large, air-tight, tin box has been procured, in which such 

 specimens may be disinfected by remaining a day or two in the fumes of 

 carbon bisulfid, before they are placed in the permanent receptacles. 



While copious rains are, as a rule, necessary for the production of a 

 large crop of fleshy fungi, there are apparently exceptions to this rule. 

 In some parts of the state where the rainfall of the summer has been de- 

 ficient, the fall rains, though not abundant, have been sufficient to pro- 

 duce an unusual abundance of the common mushroom and the smooth 

 lepiota. The plentiful crop of these two mushrooms about Albany and 

 Utica has been specially noticeable, and has been a repetition on a small 

 scale of the crop of 1896. The Albany market has been well supplied 

 with the common mushroom collected in pastures and fields, the farmers 

 having recognized them as a marketable commodity and brought them 

 to the city in baskets and crates and disposed of them as they would 

 small fruits. The price obtained was generally loc a quart. When the 

 smooth lepiota, which closely resembles it in size, habits and edible quali- 

 ties, has becoQie as well known as the common mushroom, it will add 

 much more to the available supply of food of this kind. Its similarity in 

 time of appearance and conditions of development suggests the proba- 

 bility that it may be successfully cultivated by the employment of 

 methods similar to those used in the cultivation of that mushroom. 



Respectfully submitted 



Charles H. Peck 



State botanist 

 Albany^ ip Dec. jgoo 



