2l6 



FARM FRIENDS AND FARM FOES 



a high power of the microscope, it will be seen to consist 

 of great numbers of very small, roundish particles. These 

 are the spores or reproductive bodies of the mushroom, and 

 they may be likened in their relation to the life of the 

 fungus to the seeds of the higher plants. 



When these spores are produced by the toadstool out- 

 doors, millions of them are blown away by the wind, or 

 washed away by the rain. When one of them chances to 



fall upon rich tiarth, it 

 sends out a little tube, in 

 much the same way that 

 a sprouting seed sends 

 out its germinating radi- 

 cle. After this tube has 

 grown between the soil 

 particles a little way, it 

 develops branches that 

 push about between the 

 decaying bits of organic 

 matter and absorb mate- 

 rials of growth from them. 

 Because of this the toad- 

 stool is called a saprophyte 

 — a plant living upon decaying organic matter. These 

 branches in turn send out other branches and thus form 

 the spawn, or vegetative portion of the fungus. This is 

 also often called the mycelium. 



This spawn continues to develop beneath the surface of 

 the soil for a while, until at certain places there are special 

 growths from each of which one or more toadstools are 

 produced, often appearing suddenly above the surface. 



Each toadstool consists of a stem, above which is a 

 wide top suggestive of an umbrella. This top bears on 



Mushroom 



Soil washed from "spawn" and "buttons," 

 showing ""the minute young "buttons" at- 

 tached to the strands of mycelium 



