246 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



nourishment to the quickened spore, which then 

 maintains itself entirely by intus-susception. AU 

 this takes place before the germ has burst, or 

 the embryo fungus begun to develop its organs. 

 In some instances these elementary threads are, 

 like the ordinary roots of plants, spread out to 

 a considerable distance under ground, forming 

 here and there in their course small bulbs or 

 tubercles, each of which in turn becomes a new 

 individual ; in others, and more commonly, 

 these spores are sprinkled about unconuectedly, 

 affecting certain spots only, which become so 

 many small matrices, whereof each furnishes a 

 crop. The union of many germinating granules, 

 together with these connecting threads, consti- 

 tutes miishroom spawn, or, as it is technically 

 called, carcytes. Examined a short time after 

 quickening, the spore (or seed) is found to have 

 swelled out into a fleshy kernel, which, in puff- 

 balls, truffles, and the uterine subterranean fa- 

 milies generally, constitutes of itself the whole 

 fungus : this only grows in size afterwards, the 

 substance and original form remaining the same 

 through the entire period of development. In 

 those destined to live under the influence of air 

 and light, this same rudimental nucleus gra- 

 dually evolves new parts, and assumes a vast 

 variety of forms (whereof each particular one is 

 predetermined by the original bias imprinted 

 upon every spore at its creation); and here there 

 is a manifest analogy with the progressive de- 

 velopment of new parts in the higher orders 

 of plants. In such funguses as are wrapped up 

 in a volva or bag during the earliest period of 

 growth, this furnishes them not only with the 

 means of protection, but of nourishment also. 

 This volva, which is formed by the mere swell- 

 ing out of the original fleshy bulb, when it has 

 grown to a certain size, exhibits towards its 

 centre the rudiments of the young fungus, of 

 which the receptacle appears first, and all the 

 other parts in succession. The embryo next 

 taking to grow in its turn approaches the cir- 

 cumference of the volva, which, having by this 

 time ceased to expand, is burst open, and some- 

 times with much violence, by the emerging 

 amanite. As soon as the hymenium (or gills) 

 has parted with its seed, which falls from it in 

 the form of fine- dust, the fungus, collapsing, 

 either withers on its stem, or else dissolves into 

 a black liquid, and so escapes to the earth." 

 This fine dust, whether it be regarded as seeds, 

 germs, or sporules, is undoubtedly the means 

 by which reproduction is effected, tittle atten- 

 tion has hitherto been paid to the production of 

 mushrooms directly from seed, although the cir- 

 cumstance of many sorts appearing, year after 

 year, in nearly the same spot, would lead us to 

 suppose that this is owing to the seed of the 

 previous year's crop being shed, and retaining 

 its vitality until the natural season of its again 

 reappearing. The investigations made by Messrs 

 Dutrochet and Turpin, in tracing the cause of the 

 reappearance of the agaric in the familiar pheno- 

 mena known as fairy-rings, evidently strengthen 

 such an opinion ; and we doubt not that, were 

 even artificial mushroom-beds kept in a fitting 

 state as to humidity and temperature, and a suffi- 

 cient number of mushrooms allowed to come 



to full seed-ripening maturity, succeeding crops 

 would be obtained for years by the same means, 

 and on the same beds. 



Nicol, writing practically on this subject, ob- 

 serves — " The cultivation of mushrooms is a 

 process in gardening perhaps the most singular 

 and curious of any. In the culture of any other 

 vegetable, we either sow or plant something 

 material — a seed, slip, or root, which we both 

 see and handle; but, in the cultivation of the 

 mushroom, we neither sow nor plant anything 

 visible, at least to the naked eye. Yet it is cer- 

 tain that mushrooms are produced from seeds 

 which naturally vegetate in the fields at certain 

 seasons, and which may be made to vegetate 

 artificially, at any season, by a certain process, 

 and by a composition in which the dungs of 

 certain animals form the chief ingredient. 



" The droppings of horses are found to pro- 

 duce mushrooms more plentifully and with 

 greater certainty than the dung of other ani- 

 mals," and the higher fed they are the more 

 certain is the result ; for it is notorious that the 

 droppings of these animals while at grass, or 

 when fed on green food, do not produce mush- 

 rooms to the same extent. Next to the horse, 

 the droppings of the deer and sheep are found 

 most suitable, probably on account of the seed 

 of the fungus being less affected by moisture 

 while passing through their intestines, than they 

 would be in passing through those of the cow ; 

 or, as probably, that they retain their vegetative 

 powers better in the dry droppings of the former 

 animals, after being voided, than they do in the 

 moister ones of the latter. Or it may be that 

 the seed passes through the stomachs of the 

 former animals with less injury to their vegeta- 

 tive quahty than through those of the latter, for 

 assuredly all of them alike take into their sto- 

 machs the seeds in equal abundance along with 

 their natural food. " The food of horses," as 

 Nicol has suspected, " consisting mostly of corn 

 and hay, may no doubt be more replete with 

 the seeds of mushrooms than that of cows or 

 other stock, which consists chiefly of green vege- 

 tables ; but even the droppings of horses, when 

 on gi'ass or on tares, produce few or no mush- 

 rooms. This fact would seem to prove that 

 either the seeds are collected in great numbers, 

 and are better preserved by hay, or the straw 

 and chaff of oats, than by green food ; or that 

 green food may have the effect of destroying 

 them by its moistness in the stomach, or after 

 passing through it." This appears to us to be 

 the true rationale of the question, as the seeds 

 of fungi will retain their vegetative power for 

 months — nay, perhaps, for many years — if kept 

 dry, as practically demonstrated by the care we 

 take in keeping the spawn dry after it has been 

 produced, and also that it is only in dry dung- 

 hills, or in dry sheds or places under cover, that 

 we find it most abtindant in a natural state. " It 

 may further be observed," Nicol continues, " that 

 animal matter seems necessary to the vegetation 

 of those seeds, or the spawn of mushrooms. 

 Hence, we find them produced plentifully in old 

 pastures, and in cattle-sheds, whether these be 

 frequented by horses, cows, sheep, or by all of 

 them. But the common mushroom, jigarims 



