MUSHROOMS 



MUSHROOMS 



475 



although mushroom production has doubled in the 

 United States within a period of five years, the 

 markets could take twice the quantity now being 

 received without very materially affecting the 

 value of the product. Moreover, the demand 

 for the cultivated mushroom is increas- 

 ing very rapidly, and many of the smaller 

 cities which now receive none of this prod- 

 uct could dispose of it in small quantity. 



The cultivation of mushrooms is an horti- 

 cultural operation, and is therefore not dis- 

 cussed in detail in this place. For the benefit 

 of prospective growers, however, it may be 

 said that the market possibilities have not 

 by any means been attained and that the 

 price at present paid for the fresh product 

 makes it a paying business where the condi- 

 tions are favorable and where good care and 

 the best cultural intelligence are brought to 

 bear on the work. 



Wild mushrooms. 



The wild mushroom product, being depen- 

 dent on the season, is very variable. In the 

 United States the wild mushrooms which 

 reach the market may, for all practical pur- 

 poses, be said to consist only of A. campes- 

 tris and its allies, and the food value of the 

 vast number of other common edible forms is appre- 

 ciated by an individual only here and there. In 

 Europe, more than in any other country, perhaps, 

 the wild mushroom is a sub-staple article of food. 

 In many instances there are municipal or state 

 regulations governing the species which may be 

 legitimately sold. Gen- 

 erally as many as six spe- 

 cies are legitimately sold, 

 and in extreme instances 

 the list may run as high 

 as forty species. Prom 

 Prance to western Russia, 

 or from Scandinavia to 

 Italy, during the mush- 

 room season, one may find 

 one or more species of 

 wild mushrooms on the 

 market of both village 

 and city. A knowledge 

 of common forms is, 

 therefore, well dissemi- 

 nated. Neverthe]ess,even 

 in those countries, mis- 

 takes are made, and cases 

 of poisoning, among the 

 peasantry particularly, 

 are from time to time re- 

 ported. This is not sur- 

 prising, however, when 

 one finds that some of 

 the more ignorant classes 

 pay no attention what- 

 soever to the possibility 

 of poisoning except from 

 ^^•r-e.SrZfcrprd one or two well-known 

 agaric. species. 



Writing in 1876, a French botanist reported 

 the sale of more than seventy thousand pounds of 

 wild mushrooms on the market of the small city of 

 Nantes. In 1901, the sale of wild mushrooms in 



Coprinus atramentarius. An edible blaek-spored agarie. 



the vegetable markets of Munich amounted to 

 about two million pounds, and this does not include 

 the amount dried and sold out of season. Of the 

 amount last mentioned, it is true, however, that 

 about six species (or groups of related species) 

 furnished practically nine -tenths of the total 

 product. Some of the important species of this 

 market will be referred to later. 



How to distinguish the mushrooms. 



It has been stated that there is no one mark by 

 means of which an edible mushroom may be 

 known from a poisonous species. In order to use 

 the wild forms of the cultivated mushroom, or to 

 cultivate the wild forms which may be of value, it 

 is necessary to know something of the form and 

 appearance of the important groups of these plants. 

 Unfortunately, the child seldom grows up with 

 such knowledge of these plants as it has attained 

 in the case of the birds or snakes which it may 

 also have seen in field or forest. The cultivated 

 mushroom (Agaricus campestris) is perhaps best 

 known, and its general appearance may therefore 

 be described, before attempting to compare with it 

 the wild edible species. 



The general umbrella form of the plant is famil- 

 iar to all. In its different varieties the color may 

 vary from almost white to deep brown or even 

 sometimes to purplish brown, so far as the cap, or 

 upper expanded part, is concerned. Moreover, the 

 plant consists of a centrally placed stipe, or stem, 

 three or more inches high, bearing the expanded 

 cap. Toward the upper end of the stem, in the 

 mature plant, there is attached a small ring, or 

 annulus, and in the early stages this ring is in the 

 form of a veil, that is, a structure connecting the 

 edges of the cap, technically known as the pileus. 



