382 



THE NON-VASCULAR PLANTS 



mycelium is of no value to him unless it produces ar 

 abundant crop of the reproductive organs. Mushrooms 

 are usually grown in cellars or in mushroom houses, which 

 are but dimly lighted. Light is not needed for the crop, 

 To get the right temperature, the right moisture, and 

 the right food supply is the problem. The spawn 



is spread in manure 

 which needs to be at 

 just a certain stage oi 

 decay in order to pro- 

 duce the best results. 

 The manure is covered 

 with a thin layer of 

 black earth. Pres- 

 ently, if conditions are 

 right, young mush- 

 rooms, called buttons. 



Fig. 1 7g. — a portion of the surface of one of the begin tO break through 



gills of a common mushroom showing the way ^Jjg soil. 



in which the spores are borne. Note the club- All i ( • f 1 



shaped structures bearing two prongs at whose Liue lungl lOl- 



tips the spores are borne. These club-shaped low this general plan 



structures are basidia. See context. r ^ . i j , . 



01 growth and nutri- 

 tion that we have noted as to toadstools and mushrdoms, 

 but their reproductive habits are quite dissimilar. Some 

 fungi have sex methods of reproduction in addition to the 

 non-sex methods. As to nutrition, all true fungi have 

 hyphse which absorb food. They also assimilate it. The 

 whole work of nutrition goes steadily on in the mycelium, 

 and then, when the conditions are just right, sporophores 

 appear, the spores are scattered, and the sporophores dis- 

 appear again. They shrivel up and die. The myceUum 

 continues its work as long as it can. When the conditions 



