EUROPEAN TRUFFLES 



boys, and women, but mostly old men, troop 

 in at nine o'clock with sacks, baskets, and 

 pouches. Before and after each trade a 

 visit is made to the cafes, and they dispose 

 of their wares with little loss of time. Then 

 more cafes, and an all day discussion of poli- 

 tics awaits them. 



Among interesting customs regarding 

 truffles in the Department of Vaucluse, there 

 is a regulation or habit of using only four 

 days each week for truffle hunting, and fre- 

 quently only three in the little villages occu- 

 pied solely by peasantry. These three are 

 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thurs- 

 day, the day before market, one must pre- 

 pare for market day in town; Friday is 

 market day, and one must be in town ; Satur- 

 day is the day after market, and one must 

 recover from having been in town. 



Soil relations. As a rule certain plants 

 prefer calcareous soils, while others may 

 occur in silicious soils, the latter soils being 

 usually relatively free from lime. Among 

 plants very common in moist silicious soils 



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