FUNGI ARE THE CLEAN-UP SQUAD 
on hardwoods, the puffballs that attack decaying stumps, 
the earthstars that feed upon fallen pine needles, are all 
busily sending vegetation back to the elements from 
which it came. 
There are many varieties of fungi, all doing the same 
sort of work, that are so small that their nature does not 
appear. Ordinary mold is such a fungus and is cousin to 
the mushroom. When the skin of a peach is broken, the 
spores of a fungus mold get through it and set up decay. 
Thus the kin of the mushroom tribe start vegetable 
products back to their elements more quickly than man 
would like. The whole battle for the preservation of 
fruits and vegetables is a fight against members of this 
pale fungus plant family. They are desperate enemies 
of man in many ways, but they aid him greatly by clean¬ 
ing up the rubbish. 
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