Show I re I Dollar Billion-Dollar Crop Wasted by Neglect I Solely because of or neglect to harvest It It- It a a. crop containing all the nourishing elements in both vegetable vege- vege table and animal foods went to o waste aste in iii the United States last fast year This 9 was the wild mushrooms which grow f Almost almost everywhere in great abundance ISO So vast is their number that the the- late Professor Atwater of Middletown university university university uni uni- believed the value of our almost u untouched t edible mushrooms would would I equal of that that of all other all other r crops One reason for the failure to make use of this source of food supply is the general genera belief that only an an- expert can distinguish between en the poisonous and the edible vari varieties In m most st European t countries there arE aret n mushroom schools In 11 every village and the attention given the subject ts W i bS the that thal the United States imported over a mil mil- lIon llon dollars' dollars worth worth- of the wild variety Mn ln in the year before the war The mushroom was the first plant to evolve do n the earth and became the food for the strange forms of animal life which later appeared It is mentioned mentioned mentioned men men- in both the Bible and the Talmud Talmud Talmud Tal Tal- mud and is believed to have been the source of the manna with which the Israelites were sustained There are two divisions of the wild edible genus one having pores on the under surface of the caps the other grills To the latter type belong the cultivated mush mush- rooms They grow wild on the ground on stumps and logs and also on living elms some as large as cabbages After the stem is cut off oft they may be easily dried and they will l keep well |