116 
MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 
may not have enough mushrooms ready at one gathering 
to make it worth while sending them to market, and 
are tempted to let them stay ungathered until to-morrow, 
w T hen they have grown larger and many more shall haye 
grown big enough to gather. This should never be 
done. It will give an unfavored, unequal lot, some big, 
some little, some old, some young. Far better pick every 
one the moment it is ready to gather, and keep all safe 
in a cool place and covered until some more are ready 
for use, and in this way have a uniform appearing lot of 
young produce. 
Mushrooms for soups should always be gathered be¬ 
fore they burst their gills; indeed, they are mostly 
gathered when in a button state; that is, when they 
are about the size of marbles. In this condition, when 
cooked, they retain their white appearance and do not 
discolor the soup. Immature mushrooms are deficient 
in flavor. 
For home use, for baking, stewing, broiling, or for 
cooking in any way in which the tenderness of the flesh 
and the delicious aro¬ 
ma of the mushrooms 
are desirable in their 
finest condition, let 
the mushrooms attain 
their full size and 
burst their frills, as 
seen in Fig. 24, and 
gather them before 
the caps open out flat, 
Fig. 24. A Perfect Mushroom. or the gills lose any 
of their bright pink color. If you let them get old 
enough for the gills to turn brown before gathering, the 
mushrooms will become leathery in texture, and lose in 
flavor and darken sadly in cooking. 
In picking, always pull the mushrooms out by the 
