Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-11

| lar order, out as they do not sell readily
| on the open market and the people who
bring them are half doubtful of their quail
! ties, little progress has been made toward
popularizing them.
| w nile these notes are issued primarily
| Tor use In the District of Columbia the in
formation they contain is OF much wider
! apphcaticn, for the species described occur
over nearly all except the arid portions of
tne United States. The photographs were
made principally by Mr.. A. j. Pieters of
the division Of botany
| Fig. l represents the common mush-
! room. The second specimen from the left
IL, Is young one, not yet expanded, common
| ~ called button. The specimen at the
| extreme left is a somewhat larger button
viewed from the top, showing the slightly
checked surface that sometimes occurs in
.hls species. Iypically in fresh specimens
| the surface is white, but various shades of
| nght brown, either plain or checked. are
! often found. The specimen at the right is
signify expanded, and, like the largest fully
expanded specimen at it's left. shows the
ei!iS on the lower surface Of the cap. These
! gins IN a newly expanded mushroom fresh
from the field are of a beautiful and deli
cate pale pink color, often with a tinge of
salmon. AS in all the gill-bearng fungi
mentioned in this paper, the gills end to-
ward the center with abrupt upward
curve without being attached to the stem
as IN some other kinds of mushrooms.
| AS they grow older, especially after they
| are picked. the Gills turn in few hours to
! i1sht brown and finally to a dark chest
nut brown, almost black, color. This dis
| coioratlon is chiefly due to the maturity of
lnnumerable minute bodies called Spores
| winch are developed on the edge and on
| the faces of each of the gills. If the stem
OF common mushroom he broken off and
| the cap be laid gills downward on a piece
Oh white paper the spores will drop off ana
| after d few hours will appear as brown
dust on the surface of the paper, lying in
radiating lines that indicate the position
OF the gills. In each of the two right hand
specimens there appears at about the mid
ole OF the stem ring that marks the line
or Junction between the stem and the mar
gin or the can before the latter was ex-
panied In the smaller button this line of
junction may still be seen unbroken. The
vertical line in the stem of the largest OF
the four specimens is an accidental crack
that occurred in this particular specimen
ara Is not characteristic of the species
Inc usual diameter of fully expanded speci-
mems of the common mushroom is one ami
a half TO three inches, though smaller and
larger specimens are sometimes found
Inc common mushroom is the principal
mushroom OF the markets. In the months
or september October and November when
the autumn rains have succeeded the usual
dry period of summer and the continued
cold weather of winter has not vet set in
the chief harvest of this mushroom occurs
In the vicinity of Washington the most
abundant crops come, in normal years, in
october, when soaking rains are accom-
panied by warm nights.
about Washington the common mush-
room occurs oftenest on lawns and in pas
lures, and especially in neglected fields
Where weeds have been succeeded by
scaht covering of grass. Such areas are here
known in a somewhat specific sense as odd
Eelds Probably the most prolific of l1ese
old fields in mushrooms is the one at Chevy
thase, lying between Chevy Chase Circle
and the Tenleytown car line 1t is marked
especially by low hill near its center
Tearing a small but conspicuous grove of
young trees On suitable mornings in Oc-
t tu a dozen mushroom gatherers are
frequently on hand at sunrise in this field
TO get choice selection of the nights
product. Another locality where this mush-
room Is abur dant Is the field outside the
soidlers Home grounds at the south gate
Occasionally m spring or summer small
quantities CT the common mushroom are
brought into market. These have usually
Geen gathered upon various dumping
GROUNDS OF the city. where rubbish of all
Kinds except garbage is deposited. These
situations seem to furnish the conditions
necessary for an early development of the
mushroom from the mycclium
I'm late autumn and winter large uuanti-
ties of cultivated mushrooms belonging to
the same species as the common mushroom
appear In the market. These are grown
sometimes In greenhouses sometimes in
cellars. and are handled in the regular mar
ket stals-not by farmers or colored wo-
men Most of those sold in Washington
come from New York. New Jersey and Del
aware. The price commonly ranges from
20 cents to 81 per pound but in the fall IT
often drops to y cents and in winter rises
sometimes to S1.5O. The price of the native
product 1s commonly 20 cents per quart
basket (weishing a scant pound hut 1t
sometimes is little higher, and it often.
on an overstccked fall market goes down
10 10 cents quart.
Cooking the Mushroom.
The ordinary methods OF cooking the
common mushrooms are frying in butter
hrollinS ana serving on toast. stewing in
gravy and serving with beefsteak. and
simply stewing in milk Detailed REGIMES
for these and other methods Of cooking
may be found in any good cook book AS
a preliminary to cooking the lower end of
the stem is cut off and the thin skin on the
upper surface of the cap Is usually peeied
of In strips from margin to center If this
surface Is clean and white however. peel
ing Is not necessary.
The fly amanita Is one of the largest
handsomest and most dangerous of our
mushrooms and is the one whose char
acter has been the most fully studied Of
all the poisonous species. 1t Is abundant
about Washington in the fall, growing in
pine woods. favorite situation in these
woods being the vicinity of abandoned
hog beds The specimen that caused the
death of Count de Vecchi came from q
pine wood about a mile west of Fort Myer,
between Balls Crossroads and Columbia
pike.
THE chief active poisonous principle of
the fly amanita is an alkaloid called mus
carine, but other poisonous substa nceS
the chemical nature of which is not fully
known, also occur in the plant.
ut is well known that in some parts of
Europe the fly amanita. after the removal
Of the poison by treatment with vinegar.
is common article of food. 1t was inter
esting to discover not long since that
among some of our own people similar
practice prevails.
Though most of the colored women of
the markets look upon the species with
horror. one of them recited in detail how
she was in the habit of cooking it, She
prepared the stem by scraping, the cap by
removing the gills and peeling the upper
surface. Thus dressed the mushrooms
were first boiled in salt and water and
afterward stepped In vinegar They were
,, then washed An clear water cooked in
gravy like ordinary mushrooms and
served with beefsteak. This is an exceed
ingly interesting operation from the fact
that although Its author was wholly igno-
rant of the chemistry of mushroom poi
sons. she had nevertheless been employing
process for the removal of these poisons
which was scientifically correct. The salt
and water would remove phallin or any
other toxalbumin the mushroom contained.
and although the presence Of phallin or
any Of this class of poisons has not been
demonstrated in amanita muscaria there
is strong suspicion that 1t may occur in
Il f-rA H.