Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/101

 M U S

M U S

only the enlarged roots of fome known fpecies, whofe upper part is decayed ; but which, at a proper feafon, will be re- ceived from.thefe roots. The agarics always grow upon trees, and wherever they are fixed, there is always a callous tuber- cle in the wood under them, which denotes the pafl'age of the root. Thus what Breynius calls the leather- like blood-red oak Mujhroom, is no other than the root of the common endive tret-Mujhroom; and thccylindric tree-Fungus or touchwood of Dillenius, is only the root of the common duller Fungus above defcribed. - -2. There is a fpecles of Fungus which, while young, is round, and feems to have no fibres, or roots ; but thefe at length de- caying become filled with a dry duft or fubtle powder, and then they pulh down very numerous roots into the earth ; and among thefe roots there are placed feveral globules, which are no other than compleatly organized Fungufes of the fame kind with the other, and ready to appear like it in a fuccecding year. The common boletus, and feveral fpecies of the lyco- perdon, {hew inftances of this. Ray obferves the fame fort of propagation by roots in that fpecies called fungus phalloides, which, he fays, creeps a long way under the ground, with white fibrous roots varioufly interwoven one with another ; and to which there are affixed, at certain diftances, little glo- bules, which are ripened into more Fungufes of the fame kind in a fuccceding year. Acta Petrop. vol. 3. p. 265. The violet- coloured Fungus, creeping on wood in manner of a herpes, defcribed by Mr. Ray, is no other than the root of the violet-coloured mefenteric agaric, and the black com- prefTed Fungus varioufly branching between the bark and the wood of trees, is the root of the black- fingered Mnjbroem of Mentzelius, or the plant itfelf impeded in fome accident in its growing.

4. There are Fungufes which creep with their pedicles, and fboot out roots from them; and now and then young plants, in the manner of the plants of the more perfect: kind, which have creeping ftalks ; of this kind there are feveral fpecies, which grow on the decayed fruits and leaves of trees, all of which plainly propagate themfelves by the root. In feveral fpecies of thefe plants there is placed round the flalk, at a fmall diftance from the head, a fort of ring of a tough matter, refembiing the outer covering of the wHole fungus; this ufually catches many of the feeds of the plant in their fall from the head when ripe, inorder to the re-producing the fpecies; and hence fome have been of opinion, that it was placed there by the author of nature, in order to break the fall of the feeds, and preferve them from the fury of the winds, in their falling from too great a height, in refpect to their extreme Kghtnefs ; but it rather appears, that the feeds often found on this ring, fall there only by accident, and are there detained by a vifcofuy with which that part of the plant abounds ; and that the ufe of this ring is very different.

Linnaeus has clafled the Fungufes in general, together with the fig-tree, the feveral fpecies of the ferns, the moiles, and fome others, under the character of cryptogamia ; that is, fuch plants as perform the great work of their fructification in fe- cret, or at leaft whofe flowering and feeding are not obferved fo eahly, as In Chofe plants which we ufually call the more perfect ones. In fome of thefe the beft microfcopes have not yet been able to inform us of the true manner in which this is performed, and many of the Fungufes or Mujhrooms are of this number.

Almoft all the Mufnrooms which have thick and flefhy um- bels, and flefhy items, have this fort of ring round their Italic, from which, when the plant is young, and not yet in a flowering ftate, there arifes a membrane which connects the rim of the umbel to the ftem, and preferves the under part while in this ftate ; but when this time is over, the umbel, which was before of an hemifpherical figure, growing larger, and the membrane not giving way, it is torn off from the rim of the umbel, and adheres only to the ftem. Soon after this the feeds ripen, and the umbel then lofing its former figure, commences almoft a plane. This is the ftate in which the plant is fold in our markets under the name of flaps.

When the umbel is of this figure, the feeds being perfeftly ripe, muft fall upon the whole fpace covered by the umbel, and as a part of this fpace the ring muft receive its {hare of them ; but there is no reafon to believe that it receives more than are allotted to fuch a part of the determinate fpace on which they arc to fall.

As to thofe fpecies of Mujbroims whofe items are flender, and their umbels thin, foft, anddudVile, they never have this ring at all, and yet their feeds have often farther to fall than thofe of the other kinds which have ir, as they are ufually taller plants. The rims of the tender umbels in thefe kinds clap themfelves quite clofe to the ftalks, in the form of a Contracted umbrella, and expand as the others do when the feeds are ripe ; and the fpecies of Fungufes of this kind are much more nume- rous than thofe of the former, and propagate themfelves full as regularly.

The poifon of Mujhrooms has been much talked of by feveral perforis ; but there feems to be no certain account of any body s ever having been injured by eating the common Mujh- room, unlefs by accident, as from the^eating too many at

once, and thereby over-loading the flomach; or by their being eaten by perfons who had a particular diflike to them, as fome perfons have to the moft innocent aliments, particularly to chefe. If thefe Mujhrooms had any poifonous quality, it muft have been often found out by the phyficians in fuch a place as London, where there are annually fuch vaft quan- tities of them confirmed, yet nothing of this kind is obferved; and there feems, upon the whole, to be nothing hurtful in this fpecies ; though there may be many others which are truly po'ifonous. Nor is it any more wonderful, that the different fubjects of this clafs of vegetables fhould differ in their virtues, than that thofe of other kinds ftiould. The roots of carrots and parfnips are daily found a very wholefome food, while thofe of other plants of the fame clafs, fuch as the water-hem- lock, the dropwbrt, and others of the umbellifera; are known to be poifonous.

The antients have taken great pains to diftinguifh the feveral kinds of Mujhrooms^ that the world might know the hurtful from the fafe. The boletus mentioned by Juvenal, on account of the death of the emperor Claudius, is fuffidently defcribed by PJiny. Clufius, among the moderns, has defcribed a vaft number of different fpecies, every where diftinguifhing the ef- culent and wholefome from the poifonous or pernicious kinds. The feveral authors who have treated of them fince the time of Clufius j have all mentioned the effects of fome or other of the poifonous kinds; and there are numerous inftances of the mifchief done by them at one time or other. Some have been willing to afcribe this mifchief to animalcules inhabiting the plant ; but this feems erroneous, and particularly from the fol- lowing inftance : We have one kind of Mufvoom growing in England, called the white acrid Fungus. This is fo ex- tremely Iharp, that it ftimulates the tongue, as if it had been touched with fpirit of nitre : And Tournefort obferves, that if rubbed on blue paper, it turns it red in the fame manner as that liquor, or any other of the violent acid fpirits would ; this cauftic quality remains in the plant even after drying; and it is very evident, that we need look no farther than this for the origin of the poifonous quality in this fpecies. There is another kind which is obferved to kill the very flies as they fettle upon it. It is not probable that fuch plants as thefe fhould be inhabited by any kind of animalcules, nor is it ne- ceffary to have recourfe to fuch caufes of the mifchief which enfues from the eating them, when their own juices feem fo very able to have occafioned it. Philof. Tranf. N°. 473.

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Mr. Miller fays, that the true eatable Mujhrooyn is diftinguifhed from the poifonous and unpleafant kinds by thefe marks. When young it appears of a roundifh form like a button, the ftalk as well as the button being white, and the flefhy part very white when broken, the gills within being livid. As they grow larger they expand their heads by degrees into a flat form, and the gills underneath are at firft of a pale flefii-colour ; but as they Itand long, become blackifh.

In order to propagate MujJirooms, the meadows and paftures fhould be fearched for theni in Auguft and September ; and wherever they are found, the ground fhould be opened all about the roots, where there will be found abundance of fmall white knobs. Thefe are to be taken up with lumps of earth about them. Then fome new horfe-dung muft be procured; and the litter being fhaken out, the dung mull be laid together on a heap to ferment for eight days. A trench muft then be dug, and the dung laid in it a foot thick, and covered over fix or eight inches thick with light rich earth ; and into this, on each fide, fhould be put in the knobs of Mujhroom fpawn, as it is called, at fix inches diftance. After this another layer of dung is to be made upon this earth, to fix or eight inches thicknefs, or more, but ohferving to draw in the fides, fo as not to cover the knobs of Mujhrooms above half an inch ; then another layer of earth is to be laid on this, and fome more knobs of the Mujhroom fpawn placed oil this at the fides, as in the former; then put on a third layer of dung, drawing it in ftill narrower, that it may not cover the fecond plantation ; and cover this with another layer of earth, drawing this up into a ridge at the top, and planting more of the Mujhroom fpawn In this ; but ftill laying it infideways as before. When all is thus finifhed, the whole bed is to be covered half a foot thick with dry litter, to prevent the earth from drying too faft. When the bed has been made a fortnight, it fhould be care- fully looked over, drawing away the litter with the hands, to fee whether any young Mujhrooms appear ; and they muft be gathered as they grow large ; for if fuffered to remain, they will rot upon the bed, and deftroy all the young fpawn that is about them. And when they begin to produce, the bed muft be fearched every other day all the year round, and every day in Auguft and September, which is the time of their principal increafe, to gather fuch as are fit for ufe. The manner of gathering them is, to pull them gently out of the ground, fo that no part of their ftalk may be left behind ; but if any part of the fpawn is pulled up with fhe ftalk, that muft be carefully returned into the bed. As the cold or wet weather comes on, the covering of dry litter over the whole bed muft be increafed. A bed thus managed, will remain good many months, and produce vaft abundance of Mujhrooms % and the fpawn may be at times taken out from it to fupply other new

beds.