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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 1914)
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION Toadstools in the Northwest 33??$?S;SS&'$33S f Albert R. Sweotser, hi. A, Is pro- A fcssor of botany at the CniTcrsity of Oregon, at Eugene, and wrote the following article wheat requested for i an authoritative statement retarding f $ the fungi that spring up in so many 0 Northwest pasture fields, and along so many Northwest roadsidos. The t mushroom would make a raluable J addition to the farm tables of the $ 9 Northwest states if there were some a sure way of identifying tho Tarious e 0 fungi ipecifs as poisonous or non- 9 poisonous. Editor. $ By Professor Albert R. Sweetser, V. of O. OADSTOOLS or mushrooms - I that's the question, and who can tell? As far as the words themselves are concerned, they are all toadstools they are all mush rooms. But the real desire Is to know what we may eat and what we may not eat, and there is no royal road to this knowledge. Color, odor, or the ease or difficulty of peeling give no certain indication, nor is the action on a silver spoon of any value. The only safe way is to leain with certainty a few of the well-marked forms and stick to them. Fortunately there are forms tho characteristics of which are so plain that they may always be recognized without any uncertainty. The toadstools belong to the low ly group of plants called fungi Lacking the leaf-green that Is pres ent in most of the higher plants, they must obtain their food already prepared for them, and so live on otlinr plants or dead organic matter." i Porf.K "V'l1 Figure A. If we take a specimen and give It a little careful attention we shall Bee a stalk rising from the ground with a cap on the under side on which are either plate-like gills or Blunder tubes or teeth. Could we examine a portion of a gill or tooth or edge of tube under the microscope, it would appear as in Figure A 2, being composed of an Innumerable number of threads, the swollen tips of which have each four prongs, each prong bearing a single spore or reproductive body. If we trace these threads backward, Four Well Marked and Edible Forms. It will be unnecessary to describe the meadow mushroom with Its pink gills It is well known to all and is gathered with confidence. This is often spoken of as THE mushroom, with emphasis on "the," as if it were the only edible variety, but mushroom devotees now have a list of several hundred that have been proved and found valuable .as an article of food. The "meadow mushroom" is perfectly safe, and if one hesi tates to "ex peri m e nt with other kinds, will usually fur nish a con siderable supply. As the meadow mushroom gets older the gills be come dark brown. Tlio Shaggy Mushroom. This interesting fungus has mark ed characteristics and is one of the best, and in the writer's opinion the very best, of the edible forms. When young it appears like a large egg with a brown upper end, and Its Bides are covered with silky scal3 tipped with brown. It al ii ' - - sawsl lis iiiii.i i iimwuaa f t Figure V. ground, or on top of whatever they are upon, and are easily distin guished. (Figure D.)- If gathered while perfectly white and firm with in they are safe and delicious. They may be sliced and dipped in egg and fried, or chopped and made into an omelet, or cooked in a va riety of ways. To conclude as we began, learn to know a few well marked forms and stick to them, unless yon have an expert to Introduce you to new forms. In this way yon can. add to your bill of fare a valuable fooa usually free for the picking. The rais ing of mush room s Is com para tively easy if care is taken to' purchase spawn of reliable dealers and if directions are follow ed with ex actness. A cellar or 1 shed or any place from the light can be excluded? and temperature reg ulated will furnish a suitable loca tion for a bed. Full directions may, be found in two government publi cations which may be purchased from the Superintendent of Docu ments, Washington, D. C. Farmer's Bulletin No. 204, price 5 cents. Bureau of Plant Industry Bul letin No. 85, price 10 cents. I li V .ITS?- Pa Figure IS. we shall find them continuing Into the cap and down the stalk and forming a felted mass under the ground known as the mycelium. (Figure A 1.) On this may often be seen little bunches, which are the coming toadstools. The spawn that is purchased for the cultiva tion of toadstools consists of this mycelium mixed with manure and pressed into a brick. Figure C. ways remains like a closed um brella, never opening up flat. As It gets older it begins to drip an inky fluid from the edge3 of the cap which eventually disappears entire ly in this manner, leaving the stalk alone, which also in its turn de composes. (Figure B.) It is most commonly found on the river banks or in lawns filled with this loam The shaggy mushroom should be gathered before It has begun to turn. The whole plant may be used. It should be washed and the scales should be scraped off with a blunt knife, then cooked in any of the ways known to the cooks. Here is one. Take a generous piece of but ter, roll in flour and melt In stew pan, cut up the mushroom and add to the melted butter, cover, place over slow heat and allow to simmer for short time. Prepare thin toast and serve, the mushrooms on this while very hot. Coral Fungus. These also belong to the same family as the toad stools and mushrooms, but differ from the preceding in that there are no special parts differentiated to bear the spores. (Figure C.) They occur usually in clumps and often attain considerable Bine. They show quite a range of col ors white, gray, yellow, pink and red, and often afe beautiful objects. The white forms are all safe and good if gathered when young. A good way to pre pare them is to boil in salted water like asparagus. Puff Balls. These are the familiar vegetable balls which give forth a cloud of dusty spores when trodden under foot. They vary from the tiny white ones as small as a bantam's egg to those the size of a man's head. They grow entirely on the top of the Make Flats in Winter. AKE a lot of flats this winter for use in the garden. A flat is a shallow box of convenient size used for starting seed lings, for rooting cuttings or for carrying p ot t e d plants, pots, soil or other material. Many uses will be found for the flat, and It is advisable to have a good supply on hand. Soap or other boxes obtained from a grocer cut down to two and a half or three Inches In depth make good flats. A quantity of flats will be found very useful when gardening opera tions begin next spring. The BEWAHD Is a mw, modern and elegantly appointed betel, possessing one f the most beautiful corner lob bies In the Northwest. Located at 10th and Alder its., opposite Oldl. Wortmaa King's big departmea Bture. in heart of retail and theater district. Rates. 11 and up Bui! meets all tralne. "W car alee runs I f rem Union lepot direct to HOTEL I SEWARD. W. St. SliWAKU, J"TOp Lang's Patented HOT BLAST Smoke Burning RANGE Guaranteed to Hold Fir it Hours. Burns Fuel From Top on Closed Grata BUEKS COAL Sawdust WOOD F. S. LANG MANUFACTURING COMPAUT SeaUe, Washington. -Patentees and Manufacturers. Bend for Catalog No. 8. SOLD ON POSITIVE GUARANTEE. By CYNAMID, FERTILIZER. Elton Fnlmer, Professor of Chemistry, Stste College of Washington. IX 1894 the technical world was astounded by the invention of Moissan which led to the manufac ture of calcium carbide in the elec tric furnace on a large scale. The product thus obtained was at first used in the manufacture of acety lene for illuminating purposes, but the idea was soon conceived that the carbide ought to be useful for other purposes. In 1895 Professor Frank Pointed out the possibility of producing cyan ides, starting with calcium cyanamid as the raw material. This was based upon his discovery that the carbides when heated would absorb atmos pheric nitrogen. In the middle of the nineties there was such a strong demand for cyanids owing to its use in the McArthur-Forest process ot gold extraction, that much effort was centered on the production of cyan ides from the carbides. ; Barium carbide was first used, and the absorption of nitrogen by it, forming Barium cyanid, was found! to be a very simple and easy mat ter; and that Barium cyanid could be readily transformed into the Potas sium cyanid used in the McArthur Forrest process. New Possibilities. But inasmuch as calcium carbid9 was cheaper than Barium carbide, it was deemed desirable to substitute it In the process. Strange to say, when this was done, very littls cyanid was produced, although nitro gen was freely absorbed. Investigation showed that the chief substance formed was what may be called an intermediate produce be tween the calcium carbide and cal cium cyanid, viz.: cyanid. This im mediately opened up a new possi bility, because it was soon discov ered that by the action of hot water under, high pressure, this new sub stance was readily converted into limestone and ammonia. v Hence, although calcium cyanamid can be easily converted into the de sired cyanid, Professor Frank recog nized the greater desirability of pro ducing from it substances that would be capableof furnishing nitro genous manures at a low cost. Professor Frank's son went one step further, and suggested that per haps the calcium cynamid might be slowly changed into compounds available for plant use under the combined influence of the moisture and carbonic acid of the soli and the heat of the sun's .rays, and that therefore it might be used directly as an artificial fertilizer. Valuable Fertilizer. The correctness of this theory was first tested in 3 901 and 1902. Many tests were made in pot and field which showed that crude calcium cy- cynamid containing 20 per cent of ni trogen could be considered the equi valent of ammonia sulphate, and therefore might serve as a suitable nitrogenous fertilizer. These results have since been con firmed experimentally in different countries, and there now seems to be no doubt but that it is a valuable fertilizer, having 94 per cent of its nitrogen available for plant use- acting a little more slowly than am monium sulphate, and not subject to the losses that occur with nitrate ot sade. Thirty-seven experiment stations in the United States and Europe are said to have made comparation testa of it with nitrate of soda and am monium sulphate, upon thirteen dif ferent crops, and the relative values per unit of ammonia are, as reported: Nitrate of soda 100 Ammonium sulphate 97 Calcium cynamid. 105 Further experimentation is being carried on in many places, although it is very probable that the results obtained will only confirm the re sults already obtained. Many plants are being erected in various parts of the world for the manufacture ot this new nitrogenous fertilizer. The number of students attending the Oregon Agricultural College Is six per cent greater than at the cor responding date last year, and has almost reached the 1700 mark. The ratio of men to women is two to one.
