194 ON THE CULTIVATION OF CEETAIN FUNGI. 



leaving it undisturbed, but well watered, till its season recurs, 

 when a crop generally appears. But they are hardly worth the 

 trouble as esculents. Some success, but unhappily not very well 

 assured, has attended endeavours made by the author to multiply 

 the Oak-tongue (FistuUna hepatica). By grafting pieces of it in 

 decaying clefts of other oak-trees, he boped to insure a new 

 growth. In one case this really seemed successful, but in others 

 it has failed. Various experiments made with the Chantarelle, 

 the Urchin, and the Orange Bolet, have not, up to the present, 

 given any results. 



Some species of Fungi have migrated from afar, and become 

 naturalized in new countries. An instance of this is the Onion- 

 stem (A. cepopstipes) . This is a Brazilian fungus, accidentally 

 imported into this country in some package of plants. It has now 

 become quite at home here, and has even passed over to the 

 Continent. The fact gives ground to hope that certain useful 

 exotic species may some day be naturalized here. The Perigord 

 Truffle is one such, and another is the famous Oronge (A. ccesareus), 

 which indeed is reported, though not on sure authority, to bave 

 already appeared here. It is a mushroom highly prized by Conti- 

 nental gourmets to-day, just as it was by Roman epicures twenty 

 centuries ago. 



Then there is the ^gerita, which was one of several species 

 cultivated for the table in the time of Dioscorides. It is thought 

 to be identical with one of the Pholiotes (A. cylindraceus) , which 

 is now grown in the south of France. In spring-time transverse 

 sections are taken from stumps of black poplar. These are rubbed 

 all over with the flesh of the mushroom, and are then loosely 

 buried in some damp, dark place. During the succeeding summer 

 and autumn they produce plentiful crops. The ancients used to 

 drench the standing stumps with hot wine and water to induce the 

 growth of the mushroom ; or they strewed a prepared bed with 

 the bai'k. 



In the vicinity of Naples is found a substance called Pietra 

 fungaja, or Fungus-stone. It consists of volcanic tufa, concreted 

 together by mycelium. On being placed in a warm place, and 

 well watered, this " stone " produces crops of a dainty esculent 

 mushroom, the Italian Stone-tuft (Polyporus tuheraster) . Fungus- 

 stone has been brought to England, and is productive in hot-houses. 

 But to induce the spread of the mycelium, and consequently the 

 real cultivation of this species, is evidently impossible without the 



