The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-11-01
MUSHROOMS AT WORLDS FAIR.
N Surlous Exhibit to BE Made by the
Department of Agriculture.


Department Of Agriculture.
WASHINGTON CRY, Oct. 26.-ISpecial Cor
respondence. Am exhibit of a most curl
Gus and original description is to be made
py the department of agriculture at the
Worlds fair in Chicago Nothing ike it
has ever been seen at an exposition before.
Ii Will be show Of mushrooms. including
all OF the 200 varieties of edible agarics
belonging to the United States. All of
them viii be represented By models paint
eu 10 initiate nature as nearly as possible,
Whlle the principal and most useful kinds
VIII be displayed actually growing and
under cultivation.
FOR this purpose experiments are now
oelng made in barn some miles out of
washington City under the direction of
Ut Ahoinas Taylor, an expert fungologist.
various methods OF cultivation are being
trled, and every day excursions are made
INTO the woods around about to gather
fresh species. Already in that neighbor-
mood more than 100 kinds have been Sc
cured. AS fast as they are obtained
they have plaster molds made
from them, and casts of the or
lginals are produced in a curious
material OF DR.. Taylor's own invention.
which he calls Soluble leather" The
casts are painted by skilled artists in close
imitation OF the real mushrooms Each
sort Will be shown in a group illustrating
all stages of its DEVELOPMENT and repre-
senting the conditions of its growth like
wise, some sprouting from moss, others
from pine needles, still others from the
bark OF trees, and so on
The object of the exhibit viii! be to edu-
cate the people of this country respecting
mushrooms as a valuable article of diet.
At nrpSpnf tho
culent fungi produced in the United
States, which ought to have value of a
good many thousands of dollars, is we'll
nigh wasted. Hardly more than one
species is eaten at all, and even that is re-
garded usually with suspicion. Prudence
In selection is worth exercising, lnasmuch
as there are no less than 800 poisonous
varieties, but little knowledge is ali that
is needed to be certain in choosing.
1here are ever so many fungus delicacies,
regarded as such by the epicure, which
grow all over the United States spontane-
ously, yet go to waste for lack of gather
ing. For example. few people will venture
to eat the fairy-ring mushrooms, winch are
the best OF all agarics. How many persons
are there who would think of taking home
and cooking the excellent oyster mush-
rooms which grow out of the bark of trees
In clusters, resembling in shape the mol
lusks from which their variety takes it's
descriptive name? The same Ques-
ton may be asked respecting the
beefsteak mushroom, which is developed
On tree stumps, of bright red color and
sometimes attain nearly foot in dame
ter. Cut in slices and broiled with butter.
this latter species tastes exactly like the
most tender beefsteak. In fact, fungi that
are good to eat are composed largely of
nitrogen, and their flesh is very like meat
In the elements composing it. They are
also very nearly as nutritious as meat
When they decay these curious vegetables
actually become putrid. as flesh does.
Already the cultivation of mushrooms
for market is gaining ground as an indus
try in this country. There are large mush-
room farms in New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
and elsewhere, and on Long Island there
are many extensive mushroom cellars
which produce considerable crops. Farm
eIs generally would find mushrooms a
most profitable winter crop. They have
cellars to grow them in, and loan and
manure at hand. The only expense neces-
sary is small one for the purchase of
spawn, which can be got from the seed
men. AS for the manure and loan, they
are better for other uses after having been
thus employed than before. Every
florist could find in the space
beneath the benches of his greenhouse
most suitable accommodations for mush-
room beds. For women seeking pleasant
and remunerative occupation nothing
COuiu De more suitable imam raising
mushrooms. There is more money in it
than in hens, and in the market the de-
mand is always greater by far than the
supply, at good prices.
Several kinds of puff-ball mushrooms
possess an9sthetic properties when burnt,
like chioroform, and successful operations
have been performed under their intlu-
raised for the table in Ma
Piles by simply depositing
quantity of coffee-grounds in the cellar,
the fungus soon making its appearance.
In Italy, also, another species Is produced
spontaneously from hazel stumps, partly
charred, and watered from time to time.
Razor strops of good quality are made from
an Asiatic variety, which contains minute
crystals hard enough to act upon steel.
The superb polyporns sacer is worshipped
in Africa as a god. The German tlnder,"
familiar to cigar smokers, Is manufactured
from fungus beaten out and stepped in
solution of saltpeter. Pieces of the same
are often sewn together into coarse
garments. The natives of TERRA del
Fuego depend upon certain kinds of fungi
for their staple food during many months
of the year. There is a certain
that is so luminous that it is
possible to read by its light. fungus
peculiar to the wine cellar is the pride of
the wine merchant, covering his bottles
with mold expressive of antiquity. An
other attacks the corks Of wine bottles, de-
stroying them and impregnating the wine
with taste and odor so unpleasant az to
render it unfit for use. Yet another kind
grows 10 enormous dimensions. 1t has
been known to attack a wine cask, first
feeding upon the wood and then upon the
contents, until the overfed monster blocked
up the doorway of the cellar. Still other
varieties are employed in different parts of
81 Ia world fn ak mo lDfnNlCanr IiV-
poison, dye, and snuff.