474 



MILLET 



MUSHROOMS 



Agriculture Yearbook, 1898 (also issued as Farm- 

 ers' Bulletin No. 101); James W. Wilson and H. 

 G. Skinner, Millet for Fattening Swine, Bulletin 

 No. 83, South Dakota Agriculture Experiment Sta- 

 tion, 1904; also, Speltz and Millet for the Production 

 of Baby Beef, Bulletin No. 97, 1906; W. Stuart, 

 Formalin as a Preventive of Millet Smut ; Annual 

 Report Indiana Experiment Station, p. 25, 1901. 



Fig. 703. Agarieus campestris. An edible, purple-brown-spored aearic. 



MUSHROOMS and TRUFFLES. Figs. 703-713. 



By B. M. Duggar ; illustrations of mushrooms 

 from photographs by G. F. Atkinson. 



The native or wild mushrooms supply a source 

 of food that we cannot afford to neglect, and it is 

 the purpose of this article to call attention to 

 them and to give advice as to their utilization. 



The term mushroom, as the term fruit, is of 

 very broad application. It may be applied to any 

 one of the several hundred fleshy fungi which may 

 be found in a particular region. Unfortunately, 

 there is a popular belief that a "mushroom" and 

 a "toadstool" are two things which are very dis- 

 tinct one from the other in some mysterious way, 

 the one being edible and the other poisonous. This 

 is practically synonymous with saying that those 

 which have been found to be edible will be re- 

 garded as mushrooms, and those which have been 

 found' to be inedible, or which are supposed to be 

 inedible, will bo termed toadstools. This leads to 

 endless confusion, since no two laymen would agree 

 as to what forms are edible and what are not. 

 The best usage, therefore, sanctions the use of the 

 term mushroom to include all the fleshy forms, and 

 we may, therefore, with propriety speak of edible, 

 inedible, or poisonous mushrooms. In a commer- 

 cial sense, " the mushroom " refers to a particular 

 species, Agarieus campestris (Figs. 3, 703), or to a 

 group of species closely related to this one, several 

 of which are cultivated as varieties of this form. 



The utility of mushrooms. 



Mushrooms are an important article of food in 

 many parts of the world. They cannot in any 

 sense, however, replace the staple articles of diet, . 



Pound for pound of the fresh product, they are not 

 rich enough in proteids or nitrogenous materials 

 to replace meat, nor are they so rich in carbohy- 

 drates as to replace such foodstuffs as rice and 

 potatoes. Nevertheless, they are, from a chemical 

 point of view, as valuable as many of our vege- 

 tables. From a physiological point of view their 

 value cannot be estimated. This is due to the fact 

 that they belong to that class of 

 foods which should be known as 

 condimental foods. The part which 

 they play, therefore, is analogous 

 to that of many of our fruits, and 

 sometimes more important because 

 of the fact that they serve the 

 purposes of relishes taken with 

 other foods. 



In considering the economic pos- 

 sibilities of mushrooms, the dis- 

 tinction between wild and culti- 

 vated mushrooms should be borne 

 in mind. It is not possible to form 

 an estimate of the total output of 

 cultivated mushrooms, although it 

 is a product which, to a very large 

 extent, is grown for the market. 

 Therefore, it would be wholly im- 

 possible to estimate the consump- 

 tion of wild mushrooms, for the 

 latter constitute a product a relatively small part 

 of which Is marketed. While A. campestris and its 

 allies are the chief cultivated mushrooms, it should 

 be said, however, that other species are cultivated, 

 in a sense, in particular regions. Truffle-growing 

 [see Truffle, following] is for all practical purposes 

 an industry in sections of southern France. In 

 Japan, the Shiitake (Collybia, Shiitake) is an article 

 of commerce, and probably this same species is 

 likewise grown in China. 



Extent of mushroom-culture. 



During the season of 1901, the estimated quan- 

 tity of the cultivated mushroom product which 

 passed through the Central Markets of Paris was 

 nearly ten million pounds. The market of Paris is 

 the chief market of the world for the cultivated 

 mushroom, and much of the product finally sold in 

 London and continental cities may be traced to 

 Paris. Nevertheless, mushroom- growing is an 

 industry in England and in other European coun- 

 tries. In the United States the cultivated mush- 

 room is a product of importance only in the neigh- 

 borhood of some of tbe larger cities, and the best 

 markets are unquestionably New York, Philadel- 

 phia, Boston and Chicago. It is safe to say, how- 

 ever, that markets of these and of many other 

 cities could support a much larger quantity of the 

 cultivated mushrooms than is sold during any sea- 

 son. The price paid in this country may vary from 

 twenty-five cents a pound to more than a dollar, 

 and an average price would probably be about 

 fifty cents per pound. This is nearly twice as much 

 as is paid for cultivated mushrooms on the markets 

 of Paris, and it is evidence of the fact that the 

 jmushroom is still a luxury. It is safe to say that 



