FLOWERLESS PLANTS 455 



important group of plants. It has been done with the 

 purpose of preventing accidents from mushroom poisoning, 

 and at the same time of opening the way toward a study of 

 fungi that may lead to better utilization of the valuable 

 kinds. In any favorable locality a continued search would 

 probably be rewarded by finding at least five or six hundred 

 different species of mushrooms. It is not strange that a 

 few out of this number should be poisonous. If we are to 

 use mushrooms, we should know them as we know apples 

 and potatoes. They are fragile and plastic, vary under 

 differing conditions, change color with age, etc., so that 

 to know a species means ability to recognize it in all its 

 different guises, and this is no slight task. Take one at 

 a time is a good rule, and be sure you know it whenever 

 and wherever met with. Soon you will have become 

 acquainted with a group of interesting friends and acquaint- 

 ances and fascinating enemies. 



The way mushrooms have been tested to ascertain whether they are 

 edible has been described somewhat as follows : Take a bit of the fresh 

 mushroom the size of a pea, chew it and hold in the mouth for a minute 

 or two, reject, wait twenty-four hours and note whether any bad effects 

 supervene. If not, chew another bit of a perfectly fresh specimen the 

 size of a pea and swallow. Wait a day and note effects. 



Mushrooms often change their flavors on being cooked. If no 

 bad effects have been produced thus far, cook and eat a small piece. 

 Do not season, so that you may be able to describe the flavor accu- 

 rately. If the tests indicate that the species may prove a valuable 

 addition to the common dietary, gradually increase the amount eaten 

 until thoroughly convinced that it is wholesome. The final step in 

 the procedure is to try the mushroom on your friends. 



I give these directions with the view not of encouraging people 

 to begin testing mushrooms promiscuously, but rather of preventing 

 accidents from careless or ignorant testing. 



