47G 
The Natural History of British Grasses. 
not appear until the autumn, and then frequently in the same 
rings as those of the A. prunulus. This plant is worthy of 
notice, as furnishing a delicious article of food ; I think far 
superior to our mushroom : indeed, this is the French " J/oms- 
seron," from which our name has been derived ; and attached to 
the Agaricus camjKstris, and according to Dr. Badham, it is the 
favourite species all over the Continent ; and to show the esteem 
in which it is held in Italy, the learned Doctor says that little 
baskets of it are sent as presents to lawyers, and fees to medical 
men, &c.* 
The physiology of the growth of fungi in the grasses on which 
they feed is a curious question, and one which it would take too 
long to discuss here ; suffice it to explain that it is easily pre- 
vented, as whatever tends to improve the pasture soon destroys the 
rings ; thus on a field in front of the Royal Agricultural College, 
where in about eight acres were as many as 70 rings, was 
applied, two years since, a dressing of bones and guano, and the 
fungus crop has by this been nearly destroyed. 
Fairy-ring agarics are great pests in lawns, arising from the 
grass being impoverished by constant cutting : these and mosses 
are soon kept under by a fine- 
toothed rake, and using guano 
highly diluted with sand or fine 
ashes, or watering with guano 
water. This treatment will make 
the grass coarser for a time ; but 
in many cases it is a question of 
treatment of this description, or the 
destruction of the turf altogether. 
It now remains to point out a 
disease to which all kinds of grass 
seem liable, both the cereals and 
those of the meadow, namely, tlie 
Secale comutum (ergot of rye) ; 
this, until recently, was supposed 
to be a fungus, but closer exami- 
nation has shown that the ergfot 
IS an altered condition of the seed 
of the grass ; this is evident from 
our M'oodcut No. 2, in which the 
diseased seed (A) will be seen sur- 
mounted by the two pistils of the 
grass: still ergot itself is liable to be attacked by a fungus, 
which has been named Ergoletia. 
2. Secale cornutum, after Baur. 
* See Dr. Badham's book on Esculent Funguses. 
