Sandy Fletcher, age 13, of Seattle Washington, for the question:

Do mushrooms need air?

Commercial mushrooms are often grown in dark, stuffy cellars. There they thrive without fresh air or sunshine. A green plant would soon perish in such a place. For green plants need fresh air and sunshine as food in order to grow.

The mushroom does not depend on air and sunshine for food. It feeds on the food already prepared by other plants, For this reason, it must have very rich soil in which to grow. This chemically rich soil contains the rotting remains of plants and animals. The decaying substances contain the chemical foods originally made by plants for their own growth.

The main part of the mushroom lives underground. It is a mesh of fine white threads called the mycelium. The little buttons and umbrellas that poke up from time to time are really the fruiting bodies of the plant which is below ground. They prefer to live in dim, shady places, for they do not need fresh air and sunshine either.