FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 339 
the western proverb, that it wears out one generation to 
bring the land into tolerable tillage for the next. Only a 
few of these plants are known to us, nor do we know their 
uses except in a few instances. Many of the species we 
know are very destructive to the trunks of living trees, on 
which they grow. In the first instance they may giow on 
parts which are diseased, but the insidious mycelium spreads 
with great rapidity ; the moment any growth of this kind 
appears the tree should be felled, or if a valuable ornamental 
tree, the parts affected should be carefully removed, and a 
strong solution of sulphate of copper or corrosive sublimate 
be supplied. 
Most Polypori are close and tough in their texture, and 
rather indigestible; still some are eaten. Berkley declares 
that the most delicious of all fungi is the P. casareus. Sev- 
eral other species besides our P. igniarius are used as tinder 
and moxa, and some are said to make famous razor-strops. 
Certainly a more satiny cushion could not be devised. © The 
common small species, with variegated. concentric rings (P. 
versicolor), is used to lure insects from the mycologist's more 
valuable specimens. One is used in Russia, pounded and 
put in snuff, to improve its narcotic properties ; another has 
been manufactured into coarse clothing. Only one, I be- 
lieve, is worshipped, i.e., the P. sacer, a most striking 
object, much venerated by the negroes on the West African 
coast. 
Perhaps many of us have experienced the kindred pleas- 
ures of paradise on a walk in the woods after a thunder- 
storm in the warm days of August, and felt our lungs swell 
with a thrill of strength to the very fingers’ ends, while 
breathing the balmy odors of the wood; it was not all the 
breath of flowers, nor foliage, nor any conspicuous form of 
commonly recognized vegetation. Some may remember 
having searched for the sweet knots to take home with them, 
hiding the uncouth thing in the house in order to excite the 
pleasing wonder and prying curiosity of the loved ones, as 
