The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-07-12
Entering Nature Study Through
the "Beefsteals Mushroom
ii Gatc--A Common and Almost
Wholly Neglected Variety Of
Highest Food ValucFo
on Trees and Logs in Winter
as Well as Summer.
BY Calvin Dill Wilson, D. D.

BY Calvin Dill Wilson, D. ID.
}(Author Of THE Story OF the d."Setc.)
copyright, 1904. by Joseph b. Bowles.)
He Eden OF Nature, with It's
charms, beauties and ,satisfac-!
thong. has walls that exclude
|9S3SESI and gates that admit; many
49, people wslk around Its defenses
without being aware that they.
are on the outside. Tic entrances are
guarded BY flaming swords against the
;unsympathetic, the Indifferent. and espe.i
Ecially those whose interest Is only gem
eral; but tho swords are readily lowered
IL you. have the password OF sympathy,
Nature ls so vast and multform that to
get q genuine feeling for 1t we need to
fix attention on one or q few OF its parts;
Nature Is too big for lis, 80, being finite
creatures, we should concentrate on n
detail or two. Many Of us walk or Ride
over the surface OF the earth and SEQ
nothing In particular; we behold one huge
canvas, but hurry on like a tourist party
passing through picture galleries., with
no definite, heart-stirrlng Impression OF
anything. Nature Isl like an immense IL.
Sbrary. In which one stands and looks Mt
covers Of volumes on shelves and learns
nothing except that there Is much to
learn: the waygsto get into touch with, a
library Is, Sof course, to AXE down one
book at time and read that: likewise,
Nature must be 80 treated,
Nature has a thousand ates, and IL
matters little by which one you enter Its
Eden what Is important Is to get inside
into It's sympa thies, its mysteries. its
ways ana moods. Our time Is notable
for the. large numbers OF people who are
2crowdlng through the various ways, In;
they are going through the bird gate and
the tree. gate and the animal gate and
many other entrances !; they are a happy:
ithrong, and have found Eden afresli. ~
b You are nov invited to pass through a
very; humble .entrance. that OF a3ilowlys
mushroom: tits one so obscure that the
United States reports on fungi omit IT.
altogether: thong h, OF course, omprehen-
sive scientific trea tlses do not ignore It,
tI8know very few people who have gone
through the s'bcefsteak mushroom" gate; S
the scientists have done SO; = the Indians
went In at It SO did the pioneers; but
tho lore OF the early settlers seems to:
have been lost somewhere among inter
Syening genera tons r Our farmers pass
1t by unwittingly. and our; woods, royers3
generally overlook 1t. 81 Do you know any
thing about 'Indian meat. u or ss's nick rys
beef or 'beefsteak mushrooms The
pioneers called this fungus by all these
names. sss5 N d Sj4f 81
learned of this mushroom by ia king ~
risk. had been accustomed to gather
in their seasons, t he common field mush ,-.
room ,,s; (campestris "a garicus) a and III the
'.Aiorel. One day was king on this y :
subject with Professor John Uri Lloyd, +
,,th cf.
8for specimens Of such fungi as could
find to give to3his brother. who is an aus
;thority on such alters: In return he sent.
me a sample OF the "bee fstea kss varlety,
With the statement that this species con y
ta!ns as much nourishment as meat and
that thousands Of tons OF 81 annually
20 to waste because people do not know
Its value. showed the specimen to a
friend DR.. Dr., who Is interested In
fungi !. ] t. was winter time, bu t. We de-t
;cided to make search. We drove to g
wood near the town, where we knew there
were many fallen trees. on which We
were told this Kind commonly grows. After
long seeking we discovered a log on when
were many eclmens OF a large, fan
shaped gr otwt h OF "a whitish color; these
were in clump s or masses; the fans were
iofSyarious sizes and were in layers w 81
found the fungi A; frozen. but -concl uded 3
that, 81 Ike. meat In the same conditions.
they would he no worse for that we GU cut
Off a quantity, severing the fans from
their stems that were rooted IN the bark,
When we reached DR.. DIS house NE com
pared our find with our sample and de-
cided that hey were OF the same kind
We would take the risk; DR.. p. brought
out his cha fling dish, cooked a portion OF
the mushrooms. and we bega n to ca t.
the physician stating that he had rene
dies at hand In case OF mistake. The dish
was pleasant, palatnble and wit marked A
mushroom ia ST we suffered no bad eff
fects. and had discovered in the good old
way OF experiment. by which men an
animals have tested natures products
from3the beginning. a sat factory food.
53sss "a . 1900 III Ssid
ID From that time on5I made hundreds of
visits Ito the NO DDS to find and study
these fungi Masses these mus rooms.9
bushels OF them, are 70 item found high
up on the sides OF II trees or on Il 10 fly
branches 4 they are frequently seen at the 4
bases OF trees, close to the ground. nearly
always exclusive w on one side OF 8a# tree A
and never circling It, They grow on liY--S
ing and dead trees, on stumps, In stump
covered fields, on recently felled trees
and on old & logs but always they are
where bark still clings; : the spawn ca r
Iied by winds or birds or animals, lodges
in creYices Of bark and develops beneath
tho bark, AS the spawn grows TO the
size OF the end OF a. little finger It bursts
its way through the bark; II a coHsid-
erable mass of spawn u hap opens to- be Mt
one point 1t vii split the bar omen
for several feet, The tiny mushrooms
already have the fan shape. hey de-
velop apidly fter breaking through the
bark; within a week the specimens Of
half an inch in diameter WILL grow to
a foot or more in the same 1easure--
ment and an inch in. thickness.
I'M a dry season the specimens are COM
monty small. undeYeloped and withered
II there Is abundant moisture they in