File:The field and garden vegetables of America (Page 580) (6002644946).jpg

580
MUSHROOMS, OR ESCULENT FUNGI.
COMMON MUSHROOM. M'Int. Bog.
Champignon. Agaricus campestris.
This Mushroom, when it first appears, is of a rounded or
button-like form, of a white color, and apparently rests on
the surface of the ground. When fully developed, " the
stem is solid, two or three inches
high, and about half an inch in
diameter ; its cap measures from
an inch to three and sometimes
even upwards of four inches in
diameter, is of a white color,
changing to brown when old, and
becoming scurfy, fleshy, and re-
gularly convex, but, with age,
flat, and liquefying in decay ; the
gills are loose, of a pinkish-red, changing to liver-color, in
contact with but not united to the stem, very thick-set, some
forked next the stem, some next the edge of the cap, some at
both ends, and generally, in that case, excluding the interme-
diate smaller gills."
Loudon says that it is most readily distinguished, when of
middle size, by its fine pink or flesh-colored gills and plea-
sant smell. In a more advanced stage, the gills become of a
chocolate color ; and it is then more liable to be confounded
with other kinds of dubious quality : but the species which
most nearly resembles it is slimy to the touch, and destitute of
the fine odor, having rather a disagreeable smell. Further, the
noxious kind grows in woods, or on the margin of woods ;
while the true Mushroom springs up chiefly in open pastures,
and should be gathered only in such places.
Cultivation. — "This is the only species that has as yet
beeo subjected to successful cultivation; though there can be