FUNGI. 419 
the remedies proposed are as numerous as 
their authors. But the only certain preventives 
of the evil seem to be the removal of the de- 
caying and contagious matter, the kyanizing or 
impregnating of the surrounding wood with a 
strong solution of corrosive sublimate or coal-tar 
and the admission of a free current of air. Much 
also may be done by cutting timber destined for 
building purposes in winter, when fungi are 
usually dormant or dead, and properly seasoning 
it by steeping it in water for some time, and then 
thoroughly drying it before it is used. Houses, 
in order to be free from this plague, should be 
built in dry, open, and airy situations, and 
efficiently ventilated throughout every part, especi- 
ally of the wood-work ; when these conditions are 
observed, this evil will disappear. 
The rapidity with which the spawn of fungi will 
spread, and the depth to which it will penetrate, are 
truly wonderful. The most solid timber, in a few 
months, when exposed to the weather in favourable 
circumstances, will often show traces of spawn. 
Elm trunks when felled quite sound, by the 
second year are penetrated to the very core with 
it. The beautiful and well-known Tunbridge- 
ware is formed of ordinary British oak, coloured a 
rich mineral-green by the presence of a little 
fungus (Helotium eruginosum), whose spawn, when 
