there going to waste. For this harvest is spontaneous; it
requires no seed-time, and asks for no peasant's toil. At the same
time, the economic value of mushroom diet ranks second to meat alone.
With bread, and mushrooms properly gathered and prepared, a person may
neglect the butcher during the summer months. This is self-evident to
the unscientific mind by the simple facts that mushrooms make the same
use of the air we breathe as is made by animals, that cooked they
resemble no form of vegetable food, and that in decay their odor in
some cases cannot be distinguished from that of putrid meat. To this
feast, abundantly provided by Nature for the poorest as well as the
most epicurean, we invite the American people.

In gathering mushrooms for food, cut the stem off about an inch below
the cap, and place them in the basket or dish, gills upward. Never
twist or pull them, as the gills become thereby full of dirt, which is
not easily removed. By placing them gills downward, they will shed
their spores largely and thus lose flavor.

The stem in cutting will often exhibit fine holes; this indicates that
maggots have entered the mushroom. If the substance of the pileus
continues firm and hard, the mushroom may be cooked and eaten by those
not over-nice; but if perforated and soft, the consequent decomposition
might induce nausea, and even serious sickness.

Mushrooms may be noxious as food in three ways:--

(1.) They may disagree with the system, by their toughness,
indigestibility, or use in a state of decay.

(2.) They may be slimy, acrid, or otherwise nauseous.

(3.) They may contain a subtle poison without taste, smell, or other
indication of its presence.

Most noxious fungi appertain to the first or second class above given,
and taste or common-sense would readily reject them, unless they were
cooked with other food or excessively spiced. For this reason plain
cooking is advised, and further, no amateur should venture to mingle
with good varieties others to him unknown.

Of the third class, there is one family, many of whose members contain
a violent and deadly poison. This is known as the _Amanita_ family;
and although out of fourteen varieties, four are known to be edible,
yet it is here advised to avoid all fungi as food which have these its
distinguishing marks:--

(1.) A scurfy or warty top, the protuberances of which rub easily off,
leaving the skin intact. In a number of specimens many will be found
e