Page:The Garden Mushroom.pdf/14

 and obscurity, (if they really exist at all) remaining invisible even by the aid of the microscope. Many therefore suppose that there is no production of flower or seed, but that they owe their origin entirely to the putrefaction of earth or dung. This sort of soil however first discovers them under the form of a white, mouldy, fibrous substance, called spawn, which proves productive of numerous minute white knots, or embryo plants, gradually increasing to the perfect Mushroom.

On this subject the botanic world have been long divided in opinion, the moderns generally contend for the flower and seed, and have in a manner confuted the doctrine of putrefaction.

These consider the Mushroom as a true and perfect plant, produced from seed