126 



Edible Fungi. 



[may, 



addition of caustic soda. This practically cleaned the trees, 

 only a few leaves being affected. This year — June, 1909 — it 

 has nearly disappeared." As March is dangerously late for 

 the application of a caustic wash in most parts of England, 

 those who adopt this treatment should treat their pear trees 

 in January or February. 



4. Experiments in America favour the use of a lime- 

 sulphur-caustic-soda wash, the wash to be applied when the 

 trees are dormant. Theobald's formula for this wash is : — 



Lime ... ... ... ... 3 lb. 



Flowers of sulphur ... ... ... 3 ,, 



Caustic soda ... ... ... ... I ,, 



Soft soap ... ... ... ... 1 



Water ... ... ... ... ... 10 gallons 



The flowers of sulphur should be made into a paste with 

 water, and be poured over the lime. After boiling the 

 mixture for a quarter of an hour, the caustic soda should be 

 added ; the whole should be allowed to boil for a short time, 

 and then the dissolved soap may be added, bringing the water 

 " up to ten gallons. 



5. There is no doubt that the pear leaf blister mite is dis- 

 tributed in young stock. Such nursery stock should, while 

 in the dormant condition, be fumigated with hydrocyanic 

 acid gas. (See Leaflet No. 188.) 



EDIBLE FUNGI.* 

 Blewits (Tricholoma personatum. Fig. ii). 



The cap of this variety is convex, it then becomes expanded, 

 the extreme edge remaining incurved, smooth, and polished, 

 dingy white or pale yellow, 3 to 4 inches across, flesh 

 thick, white ; gills crowded, dingy white ; stem stout, bright 

 lilac, the flesh is also tinged lilac. 



It is found on grassy open places in autumn. 



The flavour of this fungus is excellent, and it is one of the 

 few kinds, other than the common mushroom, offered for sale 

 in English markets. 



Care must be taken to observe that the gills remain per- 

 sistently white when the fungus is full-grown, as other fungi 

 of a lilac colour, with deep rust-coloured gills, are not edible. 



* Nos. 1-3 of this series of coloured plates and descriptions appeared in the 

 Journal for February, 1910, Nos. 4-6 in March, 1910, and Nos. 8-10 in April, 1910. 

 No. 7 (The Parasol Mushroom) was issued separately in February, 1909. 



