Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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(jHueljnuuns—iftagbc How often my eye, as it has followed the lines of an uninteresting magazine article, has strayed aside into the advertisement columns and read Grow Mushrooms Grow Rich No Trouble—Little Expense! Then I have leaned back in my chair and presto—I have glided through the Alleg-hanies in my luxuriant touring car, destined for Coronada Beach; or billowed around Hatteras in my yacht bound for Palm Beach. With such daydreams drifting in my subconscious mind, I heard with delight one day in early November that we were really foing to grow mushrooms here at school. Yevious to that time we had been advised by our instructor as to the nature, habits, and requirements of the mushroom. We had learned that the mushroom is a fungus, the vegetative part of which is a mass of hyphal threads called mycelium; and that the edible portion includes the spore bearing gills. We had learned of the propagation by means of “mushroom spawn,” that this spawn was specially and carefully prepared by certain seed firms and that the quality of the spawn determined to a large extent the success or failure of one’s mushroom crop. We had been warned that the mushroom was extremely particular about its food, having a decided preference for short, sweet manure from stables where horses were fed on hard grain. We had learned also that the mushroom spawn after being soaked in tepid water liked to be put into a pleasantly warm bed of 80 degrees Fahrenheit in a dark room having a rather even temperature, between 55 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit; that it was fond of an occasional drink of tepid water and was particularly pleased with a slight stimulant concocted of one ounce of Hartshorn Salts and five gallons of water. it was on November 9th that we adventured into the field of Mushroom Culture. Hopefully we adventured, but dubiously, for had we not been instructed that the mushroom desired a dark room with a temperature between 55 and 60 degrees, and did not the carnations growing in that; raised bed under which the mushrooms were to be grown, yearn for sunshine and like 50 degrees Fahrenheit or even less? When we arrived at the greenhouse that morning of November 9th, we were told that the manure had come, and that we were to heap it out of doors in piles four ifeet by five feet and three feet in height. We used our spading forks, making the boundaries of the first layer, then filling in towards the centre and tramping each layer firmly, and proceeding in like manner with each succeeding layer. A little powdered gypsum sprinkled between these layers of manure would have lessened appreciably the escape of nitrogen, but we took all available precautions against the excessive leaching of this plant food by covering the piles with straw mats. At about the second spade full it was unanimously decided that possibly the manure might in time become short, but sweet—never! In five days the piles had heated sufficiently to be turned. We turned the stacks inside out thus insuring an even decomposition of the material, shaking the straw and watering any manure that had burned, and always tramping each layer firmly. The third time the piles were turned the manure had shrunk to half its original bulk and was stacked in one pile. That, we were told, would be the last turning as the manure was really getting quite short and sweet. About this time my enthusiasm for mushroom culture, damped by abounding backaches, began to wane and it was with anything but delight that T discovered on the 6

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amygdlain from which by enzyme action the deadly prus-sic acid is liberated. The effect produced by vegetable poisons differ, in that some produce skin disease, as poison ivy, poison oak, certain fungi, etc. Other plant poisons when taken into the system cause various disorders, a number affecting the nervous centres. Some effects are mechanical. The ordinary fodder plants, in no sense poisonous, often cause serious disorders among domestic animals when taken in too large quantities. In view of the varying effects produced by plant toxins under varied conditions, it is very difficult to make an accurate list of the plants that are poisonous. Among the lower forms of plant life, many forms could be cited. During the last twenty-five years especial emphasis has been put on the study of bacteria, minute plants, so small that no doubt many of them are too small for us to see even with the most powerful microscope. Some are instrumental in bringing about the decomposition of organic substances and in this process liberate many toxic products, among these the ptomaines, alkaloidal compounds, whicn when taken into the system cause serious disorders and very often produce death. The disease-producing bacteria could well be called poisonous plants. In the large group of the fungi, which includes mushrooms, toadstools, rusts, smuts, mildews, molds, etc., many poisonous forms are found. Among the fleshy fungi it is often very difficult to distinguish between those that contain toxic principles and those that are harmless. Through ig- norance of those points which distinguish poisonous from ediuie lift 1 10 4. . ( of poisoning occur, often resulting in uv.au. These errors of identification have been frequent enough to inspire the timid with a decided dread of all fungi. Fortunately there are relatively few of the fleshy fungi that are deadly. The question is often asked : “how can one be absolutely certain of the poisonous forms?” Captain Macllvaine says that there is no fixed rule by whicl the poisonous and the edible fungi can separated. He gives two suggestion “Never eat a toadstool found in the woods or shady places, believing it to be the common mushroom. Never eat a white or yel-low-gilled toadstool.” Most of the cases of mushroom p. ri are due to the “Death Cup” (Amanita plial loides) often mistaken for the comm mushroom by the gatherer of edible fun The bulbous base of the stipe, the white gills and white spores are a few of the characters which distinguish it from Agari-cus campestris which lacks the “bulb” and has pinkish or brownish gills and dark-colored spores. The toxic property is phallin, a tox-albumin which acts on the red blood corpuscles, dissolving them. Atropine is used as an antidote for the poison. Many cases of poisoning have been attributed to the Fly Amanita (Amanita mus-caria), a closely allied species which is widely distributed, but can be recognized by its orange-red or pale yellow cap, over which flocculent scales are scattered. The spores are white, as in the other species. (To be concluded). 5

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day we went home for Thanksgiving vacation, that the manure was finally sufficiently short and sweet to be packed in the permanent mushroom bed under the carnation bench. Contrast may enhance or it may detract; contrasted with the two original stacks of mushroom manure, the one remaining pile was indeed sweet, but, even so, it was not a bed of roses! Alas! I had put on my best shoes that morning preparatory to leaving for home, and I had no overshoes. One of the Seniors once remarked at the beginning of a certain unpleasant occurrence, “It will pass.” This disagreeable task likewise passed, amid much backache, and finally the manure was firmly packed under the bench and there was left to settle until our return. On December 3d the temperature of the bed had descended to 80 degrees Fahrenheit and the time had come to insert the spawn. We marked off the distances ten inches by ten inches in the bed. We had taken precautions to buy spawn from a reliable firm. This was soaked in tepid water, being broken into pieces the size of a turkey’s egg, and then inserted into the bed to the depth of an inch. The entire bed was then covered with straw. “In eight days,” my lecture notes state, “growth will have started.and at the end of two months the mushrooms may be gath- ered, and the crop continues for three months.” On the eighth day after the spawn was inserted, a group of curious students gathered around the mushroom bed to see what this mycelium looked like. But horrors ! the maggot of the common house fly, those destructive little maggots that cause the failure of one’s entire mushroom crop, had beaten us to it.” “The spawn was infested,” said one student. Maybe they were in the manure.” said another. But whatever their origin they were eating our embryo mushrooms with gusto and seemed determined to stay. My heart sank as visions of beefsteak heaped high with mushrooms faded away. However, we gave the culture the benefit of the doubt, and, proceeding according to instructions, covered the entire bed with finely sifted soil to the depth of an inch to an inch and a half, and replaced the straw. Since then our mushroom bed like the family skeleton has remained hidden under its cover of straw. Two months have come and gone but no mushroom has poked its little round, bald head above the ground. But a report has recently circulated that with the aid of a magnifying glass the mycelium threads have actually been seen. Hurrah ! for beefsteak and mushrooms—maybe. Adeline Greathead When I vast riches would acquire 1 get some paper and some pens, Sit down before the kitchen fire And spend the evening keeping hens. Next evening 1 would richer grow And soon annex the sum to suit, I get a catalogue or so. And spend the evening raising fruit. —Exchange. 7