Reindeer-moss, which is not a true moss, but a lichen, commonly found, even in this vicinity, growing on rocks, and known to be the favorite food of the reindeer. In its limited scientific sense, the term mosses includes the true mosses, and the so-called scale-mosses or liverworts. These latter are but little known, even by students of botany, because they are, in most cases, tiny and inconspicuous plants. The liverworts have generally a leafy stem; more rarely, they are expanded into a leaf-like form. The liverworts (hepatica) are found in situations generally similar to those of mosses, and are widely distributed over the globe, but by far the greater number belong to warm climates, where they grow on the bark, and even on the leaves of trees. The true mosses are more familiar to us. Many of them have been used for various economical purposes, and all have been recognized as important factors in the disintegration of rocks, in the formation of soil and in conserving moisture; thus, they serve an important function in nature's economy. The mosses are an order of acotyledonous plants, consisting of mere cellular tissue, and distinguished from the liverworts described above (and with which they are closely allied) by always having a leafy stem, and an operculated capsule or urn which opens at the top, and is filled with spores arranged around a central column. The capsule is covered by a hood, which is thrown off when the spores are ripe. None of the mosses are large plants; many are very small. Some have elongated stems, often branching; in others the stem is scarcely developed, so that the plant appears to consist of a mere tuft of leaves. They are among the first plants which begin to clothe the surface of rocks, sands, trees, etc. Mosses love moisture, and are usually more abundant in temperate than in hot climates; they struggle for existence on the utmost limits of vegetation in the polar regions and on mountain tops. In a dry season, they wither and appear as dead, but they revive as soon as moisture returns. Some mosses grow in bogs, which they gradually fill up and consolidate. They protect the roots of plants from cold and from drought; they afford shelter for numerous insects. Some species supply food for cattle, particularly for the reindeer, when nothing better is to be had. The medicinal virtues of the mosses are not important. Among the principal uses to which they are put are the packing of garden plants in winter, and the stuffing of the open space in roofs to moderate the heat of attic rooms in summer and their cold in winter. Several thousand species of mosses are known; many of them are very beautiful. MUSHROOMS (Condensed from "Some Edible and Poisonous Fungi," by W. G. Tarlow, Harvard University.) What are mushrooms? How can you tell a mushroom from a toadstool? These questions are often asked. Mushrooms are toadstools. All the fleshy, umbrella-shaped fungi are toadstools, and, to a small number of the best-known edible fungi, the name mushrooms has been given. Many of the other fungi are edible and, it is probable, that most of them are not poisonous. So the above question resolves itself into this,-how can you tell an edible fungus from a poisonous one? Our knowledge on this point is derived entirely from experience-in other words, it is empirical. We know that certain fungi are edible, and others poisonous, because people have eaten the former and have found them good, while the latter in some cases have produced illness and even death. The number of species which have been experimented upon is small, compared with the whole number of species of fungi. HOW MUSHROOMS GROW These fungi appear first on the surface of the ground, or on the bark of trees, as small, solid balls, which gradually increase in size, till finally they shoot up into a stem which bears at its summit the "umbrella" top; this top is at first closed around the stalk like a closed umbrella, and which expands more or less according to the species. When small, the growths are called "buttons," as in the so-called button mushrooms, usually imported from France. These young plants grow from a mass of fine, colorless threads in the ground or in logs. This mass of threads is known as spawn,—by botanists, it is called mycelium. It is often said that toadstools grow up in a night-but this is not the case. After the formation of the "button," the fungus may develop very rapidly into the full-grown toadstool, but the development of the spawn into a "button" takes considerable time. Comparing the functions of the spawn underground, and of the toadstool above, with the functions of roots, trunk, branches, and leaves of other plants, we shall discover that the spawn itself performs all the offices of the root, stem, leaves, etc., and that the fungi themselves, are only the fruiting part of the plant, corresponding, for example to the apple. In other words, all the purely vegetative functions of the fungus are performed by the spawn, while the toadstool is only a reproductive body, the apple contains seeds, for example, while the fungus bears spores-microscopic, dust-like bodies, corresponding, in function, to seeds. In the toadstool family it is the underside of the pileus (or umbrella) which bears the spores. In some species, the under surface consists of a series of what might be called gills, resembling knife blades, which radiate from the top of the stalk to the circumference like the cumference like the spokes of a wheel; in other species, it consists of a mass of small pores or tubes closely packed together side by side; in a third class, the surface is only slightly undulated. By far the greater number of our edible and poisonous fungi belong to the gill-bearing or tubebearing varieties. The common mushroom (agaricus campestris) is practically the only species cultivated in this country, and is the only fresh species found in northern markets in the winter months. It grows wild in August and September in grassy fields, where animals have been at pasture. It is especially abundant in fields near the seashore. The color of the pileus varies from white to a shade of drab, but the color of the gills,-which must never be overlooked by the collector, is at first pinkish, later a brownish purple. This color is due to the spores which are borne on the gills. If the pileus be cut from the stalk, and placed on a piece of white paper, the spores will fall on the paper, and leave on it, a colored impression of the gills. The stalk is cylindrical and solid, and has, about half way up, a membraneous collar called a ring. Mushrooms are sometimes single, but frequently there are several (tho' not many) in a group, some mature, others younger. If we examine a specimen ere it is fully expanded, we shall not be able to see the gills, since there is a membrane extending from the stalk to the margin of the pileus. When the membrane is ruptured, a part of it remains attached to the stalk, forming the ring referred to above; generally some portions remain attached to the margin of the pileus, tho' in older specimens the ring shrinks, leaving a mark showing where the membrane was attached. In collecting mushrooms to eat, we must note carefully the color of the gills, which are a purplish brown when the fungus is mature. Most of the fatal errors have arisen from not noting this fact, and selecting species. where the gills were white. The, next point to be noted is whether the stem is cylindrical and solid, and has a ring, or traces of a ring above, and especially whether it seems to come directly from the ground; or whether the base is bulbous and sheathed with a membraneous bag or scales. If it has a sheath or scales it is not the common mushroom. Furthermore, it must not be forgotten. that edible mushrooms grow only in open fields. If the collector finds a fungus having the points herein mentioned as belonging to the common edible mushroom, agaricus campestris, the chances of his being poisoned are very slight, for there is only one species at all answering to this description which is to be avoided, and that is very rare indeed, and has so very disagreeable a taste that none would desire to eat it, while the edible species has a pleas ant taste. THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY SEEDS The seed contains the germ of a new plant; it consists of a kernel and its shell. The kernel may be composed of two parts, germ and albumen, or it may be all germ. In the bean, for example, the kernel is all germ, or embryo. In all seeds, the embryo is a miniature plant, consisting of radicle, plumule and cotyledons. The radicle is the part destined to grow downwards into the ground, and become the root. The plumule is destined to grow upwards and develop into stem and leaves. The cotyledons are the two seed-leaves, thick and bulky, full of a starchy substance to feed the young plant when it first begins to grow. Bean-seed without its shell. I-are the two cotyledons. 2-the plumule (stem and leaves.) 3-the radicle (root.) In the wheat seed, we shall find, besides the embryo, a white, mealy substance, which when ground, is known as flour. This substance serves the same purpose as the cotyledons of the bean-i. e., to nourish the embryo. Wheat-seed, cut open. I-the starchy substance. The food of the young plant is stored away in every seed, either in the bulky cotyledons of the embryo, or in the albumen outside the embryo. Some seeds contain one, some two cotyledons. The seed then, is a miniature plant, living, but sleeping; packed up and sealed for transportation. The conditions needed to bring about germination are heat and moisture. In the spring of the year, the warm rains supply the proper moisture to the seeds. which have fallen into the ground, and one may see them everywhere swelling, bursting, and developing into plants. Let us look beneath an old oak; buried under last year's leaves we will find acorns in all stages of growth, showing all the processes of germination. Here is an acorn whose shell is softened and whose kernel is swollen. Cut it lengthwise with your sharp knife and what do you see? (See cut C.) The section shows two cotyledons and the radicle. Acorn, cut open. C. C. the cotyledons. In another acorn, the cotyledons, having absorbed more moisture, have grown so large that the shell has burst, and the radicle, growing, has come out, and is seen directing its course downwards. (See cut D, E, F.) In Here, the root and stem are well organized, and the young oak fairly started. The plant is now independent of the seed, which soon withers. the case of the oak, the cotyledons are never able to throw off the shell, so they die with it. In other plants, like the maple, the two cotyledons escape from the shell, and, changing color, become the first pair of leaves on the plant. Let us study for a moment the germination of a maple seed. (See cut G, H, I, J, K.) One bud appears in the axil of each leaf; as long as the terminal bud only is developed, the plant grows up as a simple stem. But by the growth of axillary buds, branches are produced. THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE PLANT. The water absorbed by the roots becomes sap, and circulates to every part of the plant. The leaves serve as lungs, and bring all the sap which passes thro' them into contact with the sunlight and air. The first stage in the growth of a plant is found in the seed. In the second stage, when the plant is independent of the seed, it goes on increasing in stature and multiplying its leaves and branches. It now is composed of the so-called organs of vegetation,-root, stem, and leaves. The third stage is that of flowering. Before this period, all the energy of the plant was directed toward its own nourishment and growth. Now it begins to live and act for the continuance of its kind. Some of the buds undergo a transformation, and become flowers instead of leafy branches. A flower, therefore, is a leafy branch transformed, having its leaves in crowded circles, and its axil undeveloped. The flower prepares the way for the fourth stage of plant life,-i. e., the period of fruit-bearing. fruit-bearing. The last stage is the hibernation of the plant, or its death. If the flowering and fruit-bearing occur within the first and second years of the plant's life, it is generally followed by its death. In other cases, there occurs a period of rest, when the plant is usually devoid of leaves, and when it gives few indications of life until renewed by the return of spring. An annual herb completes its whole. history in one year; it germinates in spring, flowers and seeds in the summer, and dies in the fall. Examples: |