46 ON SOME COMMON SPECIES OF EATABLE MUSHROOMS. 



only point to observe is, to cut each individual tlirougli, and reject 

 ali specimens that are not perfectly lohite and solid throughout ; for 

 when they begin to ripen they become nauseous, and possibly un- 

 wholesome. Both large and small kinds are alike good to eat 

 raw, with bread and salt. If cooked, they must be dressed in 

 ways suitable to them, not like Pratellcs. Recipes are given in 

 a si)L'ci:il cookery appendix. 



The Oread (114). This is a meadow mushroom, slender in 

 habit, buff in colour, and gregarious. It will be readily recog- 

 nised as the chief inhabitant of the so-called " fairy-i-ings." It is 

 a capital dainty, and so plentiful that it may often be gathered 

 almost by the cart-load, small as it is. It can be very readily 

 dried and kept. In distinguishing Oreads from other small kinds 

 frequently growing among them, it is necessary to observe the 

 following points. A uniform pale huff or cream colour. Gills that 

 are broad, distant from each other, and free from the stem, the same 

 colour as the cap, or only a shade lighter. The Stem solid and 

 Jibrous, and not hairy at the base. A strong, peculiar, and aromatic 

 scent. The Oread can scarcely be too highly extolled as an 

 esculent. 



The Blewit (112). This appears also in meadows, generally 

 about the time when Pratelles are ceasing to come up plentifully. 

 It is a large, fat, dirty-white Agaric, growing in clusters or rings. 

 Attention must be paid to the lilac or violet stains upon the stem, 

 occasionally also on the cap or gills. The Blewit is as good as a 

 veal cutlet, which it may be dressed to resemble. It is not to be 

 gathered when at all watersoaked or gone ; for in this species the 

 early stage of putrefaction, or even swelling with water after rain, 

 seems to develop deleterious qualities. When fresh and diy, how- 

 ever. Blewits are most wholesome and excellent. 



The Wood Blewit (111) is quite as good, but is only found in 

 limited localities. 



The Oak-tongue (174). This is a mushroom easy to identify 

 and impossible to mistake for any other. It is a large fleshy 

 excrescence, found solely upon oak-trees. It is red in coloui', soft 

 and sticky to tlio toucli, and its surface when young looks like 

 tha.t of a bullock's tongue. When old it becomes brown like liver, 

 but*,i8 still full of copious red juice which can be utilized. Itb 

 large size, ])erfect wbolcsomencss, and wonderfully nutritious 

 (piali'-ties make the O.ak-tongue one of our most valuable economic 

 Fungij; though it must yield iu point of flavour to some other kinds. 



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