Morning journal and courier., 1893-09-14
MUSHROOMS AND ToADSTOOLS.

MUSHROOMS AND T0ADSTOOLS.
 Not long ago 1t was announced iu the New York papers that poor people in this city were living on mushrooms which they gathered in the fields. This WAS 6 thrill ing tale and it had the effect of making some who like mushrooms wish that they could be like those poor people. Since then there has been a regular epidemic of mushroom stories, aRd some of them are not very pleasant. For instance, there are reports almost every day of sickness and death from poisoning by toadstools eaten with the idea that they were mushrooms. The first case in the vicinity of New York was reported few days ago, and the rec. ord already shows fourteen deaths and twenty-six cases of illness from this cause. Most of them were in New York, but five of them were in Newark and there were others in Long Island City, Ridge6eld, Trenton and Plsinfeld, New Jersey.
 Although it has been reported that poor people in New Haven are living on mush rooms there have been no cases of mistake reported here. There has been death in Southington and one in Westport from poisoning by toadstools. If the idea of eating mushrooms is going to spread 1t is evident that thoso who eat them should take pains to know what they eat. A writer in the New York Recorder gives 8 very careful and accurate description of ! the mushrooms. We reproduce it for the | benefit of those who need 1t in this vicinity: Mushrooms ara invariably white above ! and pink beneath. That Is, when young; with age their frilled Things gradually turn through brown to black, but as they are then tough and favorless this condition need not count. The white top is lnvsri. able. Not the freskiest m mushroom indulges in roof spotted, speckled or colored. In the second place, the young mushroom comes up closely buttoned down around the stalk, thick and compact, whereas those | toadstools that do not instantly open wide ly their umbrellas to the light of day keep their button shape accompanied by thin and fabby tops, substanoe too scsnt to en dure cooking. The odor, too, differs whol ly, and though some persons find the mush room odor dissgreeable, even then it Is { wholesome, cheerful, reassuring flavor as contrasted with the damp, grewsome | stool. There are many kinds and colors O toadstools, but the mushrooms costume
 never varies. The stem has almost a many points of difference ss the top While the toadstool stem is almost in variably smooth, and ususlly glossy, tha of the mushroom Is firm, dead white ant solid texture, with no gloss whatever, bu
 rather chalky white, and In almost ever, instance it wears tiny white frill abou
 1.-the merest hint of a collar. The fiut
 ings of the pink under the surface, too, ar
 unlike the toadstoors, being closer .an'
 lees deeply indented. Another test is b
 peelipg, as the mushroom has a tough lii
 tie outer skin that readily peels off iron
 the edges toward the centre, a qualit
 which no tosdstool possess.
 Those who eat mushrooms should kno,
 how to tell the difference between ther and toadstools without dying. Death fror
 eating toadstools is sure sign that mil
 take has been made, but 1t is wiser nos t
 discover the mistake in that way.