The San Saba weekly news. (San Saba, Tex.) 18??-1???, 1892-01-08
FUNGUSES.
a REMARKABLE BRANCH OF
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
The Fungus is Found Almost Every
where and in Many Queer Shapes
Surprising Varieties of Odors
"A PhosphorescentF Fungus.

Wnefe anu IN many queer SHAPES
Surprising Varieties of Odors
"A Phosphorescent Fungus.
What its discoverer declared to be
new kind of mineral was received by the
Department of Agriculture the other day
all the way from California. Professor
Galloway examined it and told Wash
ington Star reporter that it was merely a
fungus of a very peculiar kind, which
grows in California and several other
States as far east as Michigan, being de-
veloped upon the trunks of pine trees.
The specimen mentioned weighed about
three pounds and was very solid, being
composed almost entirely of resin. This
material, for the purpose of its own sup
port, the parasite causes the tree to
secrete in unusual quantities. Wherever
the fungus fourishes it is believed by the
country people to be n excellent sub
stitute for quinine and is used by them
as a remedy for chills and fever.
The study of funguses is comparative
" new. As branch of research it is of
somewhat wide scope, 5000 species being
already recognized and classified. For
every mushroom that one eats there are
hundreds which prey in return at the ex-
pense of mankind. Among the micro
scopic varieties may be briefly mentioned
one that spawns upon dried preserves,
another that makes bread mouldy, third
that devours the corn, fourth that rots
the fruits, fifth that spoils beer, a sixth
that gives bad taste 10 pickles and a
seventh that causes catsup to purify.
l-,--:il other families attack the hoofs and
horns of cattle, grow amid heaps of
moist marble dust in the sculptor
studio, pick good timber to pieces, de-
stroy silk worms and even sprout from
the products of surgical disease in the
hospitals. Not a few of them actually
prey upon each other or transform insects
into vegetables. They are everywhere;
their name is legion and their province
ubiquity. In form they are infinitely
varied. One sort exactly resembles a
human ear, which is attached to a tree
and trembles when you touch it; another,
which projects from the bark OF the
chestnut, is so like tongue inRape
and general appearance that in y. vs.
of enchanted trees you would not cut it
off to eat it on any account, lest the
knight should afuerward come TO claim
it of you. The surface of this latter
curiosity is rough, just like that of real
tongue, the flesh softly elastic and the
color bright rcd, its appearance being
not that Of healthy organ of speech,
but of one unpleasantly diseased.
Funguses are characterized by the most
surprising varieties of odors. Some are
provided by nature with such horrible
smell as nothing else besides can ap-
preach. The infective stencil of one
known as the 'clathrus" has given rise
to a superstition in parts of France where
it grows that it is capable of producing
cancer, so that the inhabitants of the
Landes district call it the "cancer," and
when they find a specimen cover it care
fully over lest some one should chance to
touch it and become afflicted with that
horrible disease in consequence. An
other species smells strong of onion, a
third of apricot, fourth of tallow, a
fifth Of putrid meat and a sixth of stale
poultice. Wholesome ...s.;,shroSs;,sss, sIs.Iaf-
ly have an agreeable perfume, and the
safest rule to follow in gathering them
for the table is to nibble the stem of
each one picked. If the taste is not
pleasant throw the thing away.
1Ute 49,.
lohG been celebrated for the production
of funguses which emit light resembling
moonlight. 1t is phosphorescent in its
nature. Another species furnishes a use
full color for dyeing: another is en-
ployed for making ink; another is util-
lied for Supplying bees, for stanShing
blood and for making finder; another
serves the Laplanders to destroy bedbugs,
for which purpose it is smeared upon the
walls and bedposts, and another is val
ued by the Kamschatkans for manufac-
turing an intoxicating liquor. The
''polyporus sguamosus" makes a razor
strap far superior to those commonly
sold. For this purpose it must be cut
from the ash tree upon which it grows in
the autumn, when its juices have been
dried and its substance has become solidi-
fed. It is then to be hattened out for
twenty four hours in press, after which
1t should be carefully rubbed with
pumice, sliced longitudinally, and every
slit that IS free from damage by insects
glued upon a wooden stretcher. In quite
ancient times this fungus was so en-
ployed, and it seems strange that it has
gone so entiIely out of fashion.
A mushrooms method of growth and
propagation is popularity considered to
be first-class mystery. 1t is not such,
however, from the scientific point of
view. On the contrary it is very well
understood how the seeds or spores are
developed on the under sides of the
fungus, microscopic and of vast num-
bers, single agaric often having as
many as 1O,OOO,O0O These myriad
germs, when then fall upon suitable
grounds, send forth numerous fine cotton
like threads, which bring nourishment
to the spore. Fattening upon the food
It gets from the earth in this way the
embryo swells into feshy kernal, like
knot amid the network of filaments
about it. From this kernaI the mush-
room in all its parts is developed before
it shows above the ground.
It is commonly believed that the
mushroom literally grows in night, so
that it has come to be emblematic of
sudden development, but the truth is
quite otherwise. 1t is very likely to re-
quire several weeks for its formation,
and up to the time of its appearance in
the light of day It remains beneath the
surface, very much compressed and held
in high compass. Then comes moist
night and the cells of which the fungus
Is composed are greatly expanded so
that It thrusts itself out above ground.
But it is no heavier, though so much |
bigger, than days before, perhaps, when
it lay hidden In small compass under the
top layer of soil perfect mushroom.
Hare Their Dull Seasons.