October 32, 1874. ] 



JOUENAL OP HORTICULTURE A'ND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



359 



five kinds of plants used the Sempervivum is hardy, and the 

 Lobelia and Pyrethium are raised from seed in spring, so that 

 only the Coleus and Alternanthera would require protection 

 in winter, and of these a few plants afford a considerable stock 

 of cuttings in spring. 



Taking another circle (fiff- 105), as an example of how 



Fig. 105. 

 1, Sempen'ivmn californicum. ] 4, Tagetes eignata pumila. 

 2, 2, Alternanthera magnilica. 5, Golden Feather Pyrethrum. 



S, Echeveria secunda glauca. ' 6, Coleus Verschaffelti. 



Tagetes is used, we have a central star with eight points, con- 

 taining a grand dark mass of Coleus with a margin of Golden 

 Pyrethrum, Tagetes being most effective between the lovely 

 yellow Pyrethrum and the rich orange Alternanthera. The 

 patches of silvery Echeveria also told well, exercising very con- 

 siderable influence upon the general effect, which was excellent. 

 When grey-leaved plants are scarce or variety is necessary, 



Fig. 106. 

 1, SempernTnin califorcicnm. i 4, Echeveria secunda glauca. 



2, 2, Golden Feather Pyrethrum. 

 3, Alternanthera versicolor. 



5, Lobelia speciosa. 



6, Coleus Verschaffelti. 



Echeveria secunda glauca forms an excellent substitute, pro- 

 ducing a somewhat similar effect in colour, and yet being totally 

 different in its general appearance. It is used in figs. 105 and 

 106 in a very similar manner ; but this last design is given as 



an example of how two shades of rich crimson may be intro- 

 duced in the same bed with perfect safety by the use of other 

 suitable bright dividing colours. The effect of this bed was 

 extremely rich, and not at all heavy. — Ehward LuciinunsT. 



A DAY WITH THE FDNGDS-HUNTERS. 



Another Fungus feast, and no casualties ! Once more have 

 the mycologists, indigenous and other, hunted and harried the 

 woods. Fir groves, and pastures of Herefordshire, in pursuit of 

 game which squires do not care to preserve, and to which 

 farmers do not raise the faintest objection. Once more have 

 they returned towards dusk to the "faithful city," bearing 

 bags and baskets filled with spoil destined to give variety to 

 more than one cuisine. So far has the adoption of the study 

 of mycology, as a special feature of the Woolhope Field Club 

 transactions, tended in six years to "Italianise" the tastes of 

 diners-out in the matter of Fungi, that we believe the excellence 

 of a "Lycoperdon" fritter might be avouched by the highest 

 ecclesiastical dignitaries; and, uulees our eyes deceived us, the 

 High Sheriff of the county of Hereford could certify the good- 

 ness of " Comatus" soup. It is not, of course, contended that 

 among the results of the forays which made the woods of 

 Downton, Stoke Edith, Dinmore, and Garustone, all alive in 

 the first week of October, there were not a number of diverse 

 Toadstools, wholly unfit for human food; but a residuum of 

 edible Fungi was tried, tested, and not found fault with by the 

 guests at the public dinner on the 1st of the month, who, 

 though disappointed of the presence of the Rev. M. Berkeley, 

 the chief of English mycologists, included in their number those 

 scarcely less eminent authorities, Messrs. Broome, Renuie, and 

 Houghton, to say nothing of that skilful delineator and de- 

 Bcriber of Fungus-growths, Mr. Worthington Smith, F.L.S. 

 The proceedings of the evening included a merited recognition 

 of the assistance rendered to the Club by this gentleman, 

 whose two sheets distinguishing edible from poisonous Fungi, 

 with the key appertaining to them (published by Hardwicke), 

 are still the most useful guide to the amateur Fungus-hunter, 

 though for more advanced inquirers the manuals of Berkeley 

 and Cook, and, for the more classically minded, the charming 

 volume of Dr. Badham, are, doubtless, more suitable. The 

 delicately-served Marasmius oreades, or " Fairy Ring Cham- 

 pignon," enabled the veteran Mr. Lees to return for the 

 hundredth time to his " molar " theory as to fairy rings ; the 

 Orange-milked Mushroom (Lactarius deliciosus) justified its 

 title, after skilful cooking and a good deal of salting and pep- 

 pering ; and if on this occasion we failed to experiment upon 

 the Sctily Agaric (Procerus), the Beefsteak that is cut to order 

 from half way up the Oak (Fistulina hepatica), or the Boletus 

 edulis (not that in favour with the elder Roman gourmands, 

 though very popular with their remote posterity), or even the 

 Giant Puff-ball (Lycoperdon giganteum), it is simply because, 

 in the case of Fungus-tasting as in everything else, non omnia 

 possumus omnes. The Lactarius deliciosus ought to be good, 

 to judge from its name; audits beauty of colouring and deep 

 orange milk so completely distinguish it from the dangerous 

 L. torminosus, the deadly and ruddy L. rufus, the fragrant and 

 rare L. glyciosmus, L. controversus (a species not uncommonly 

 found under the Black Poplar, but on this occasion discovered 

 by Dr. McCullough under a Lombardy Poplar at Garnstone), 

 and the L. Vitellinus, which, notwithstanding its epithet, is 

 not good for food, that there need not be the slightest hesi- 

 tation in tasting it, even raw. Dr. Badham's plan of baking 

 the Deliciosus, after due application of salt, pepper, and butter, 

 for three-quarters of an hour in a covered pie-dish, is doubtless 

 a preferable mode of experimenting on this delicacy. Our own 

 experience of it is not so fortunate as to enable us to rank it 

 with the most appetisingof culinary Fungi, nor can we mention 

 it in the same day with the slices of the Giant Puff-ball, when, 

 after the removal of their outer integument, they are dipped in 

 yolk of egg, and then fried in fresh butter. In all such ex- 

 periments it is obviously unfair to try other than quite fresh 

 and young specimens, and there ought to be no necessity for 

 cautioning even the uninitiated against cooking the Puff-ball 

 when it is yellow and rotten inside, or, indeed, when its snow- 

 white exterior is beginning to change to a suspicious yellow. 

 Several of the rarer Lactarii mentioned above were either 

 found in this year's forays at Hereford, or were brought thither 

 to adorn the sideboard at the festival. 



A word must be added about the " Comatus " soup. What 

 boy or girl accustomed to roam over field and pasture does not 

 know the quaint cylindrical " tall John," with a fleshy and 



