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16 uo necessity for any "caution." And so, too, ho tlioiight the word " poisonous" 

 was often misapplied, especially with reference to funguses. For examiilo, if 

 after dining with my Lord Mayor, you get a sick headache, or a diarrhoea, 

 or a fit of intligestion, you at once set it down to the proper cause,^ without 

 writing off forthwith to declare that you were "poisoned" by the salmon 

 (though we all know how deleterious that fish is often said to be under such 

 circumstances !) But if either of these grievances occurred after eating 

 "agarics," no other word than "poisoned" seems to be thought of. As in Ire- 

 land, to be " kilt entirely, your honour," was by no means inconsistent with 

 being perfectly well the next morning; so to be "poisoned with mushrooms" 

 simply implied, as a general rule, some passing disoomfor-t more or less 

 troublesome. 



The same knowledge to distinguish the good from the evil was necessary with 

 other plants in ordinary use. People don't refuse to eat Horse-radish because 

 a whole family is now and again poisoned (unto death, be it observed) by 

 eating scraped Aconite root which has been mistaken for it. Nor do they refuse 

 Watercress because the poisonous Brook-lime, very like it, grows in similar 

 places. In a recent number of "Land and Water" is a receipt for making the 

 " Herb pudding " which is so much used in the north of England during spring 

 time. It is written by Mr. Jackson Gillbanks, and though somewhat long is 

 quoted in the exact words used for obvious reasons. 



For the "Herb pudding." — " The staple article, according to all the good ' 

 housewives I have consulted, seems to be Eastern (alias easterman) giants, the 

 provincial name iov Pohigonum historta, great Bistort, or Snakeweed, and those 

 gathering it must take care not to get hold of the second branch of this family, 

 such as the biting Persicaria. Next in order comes Comfrey, Deadnettle, and the 

 shoots of Hops, Sorrel and Sourdock, to which many add a small x>ortion of Chive, 

 Elecampane, and several of the Parsley tribe, and the Arum macukitum or cnckoo- 

 pint, the last with doubtful propriety, though its root makes excellent flour. I 

 must not omit a large proportion of Chenopodinm Bonus Henricus, the Mercury 

 goose foot, or good King Henry. There is great danger in entrusting the 

 gathering of some of these herbs to ignorant people : for instance, country people 

 h ere call "Mercury goosefoot" simply "Mercury" for brevity; now if any of 

 you were to apply to a herbalist for this, he would probably give you what 

 you asked for, Mercurialis jKrennia, a deadly poison. Many mistakes also 

 may arise in the Parsley tribe, which is also much used." Then directions are 

 given for chopping up together, adding pearl barley and an egg or two with 

 pepper and salt, and boihng ; and it is added, " There is no doxibt it is 

 an excellent and wholesome diah." Then speaking of a garden herb pudding, he 

 says, " I never tasted one myseK but once. We had a bouncing Scotch lassie as 

 cook, and she reckoned she would astonish us with a 'yarb pudding,' which sho 

 did with a vengeance, for many of the family had a narrow escape after eating 

 it. On the subject being investigated, and taking her round the grounds to 

 show what she had gathered from, it turned out that her main ingredient was 



