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society will take the place of the Farmers’ Club. Shorthorns and Devons will give 
place to Chanterelles and Orcelle, and all Herefordshire will be turned into a 
mushroom-bed. Be it so, if the progress of science so ordain ; and meanwhile, in 
preparation for this good time, let us educate the cooks and revise the cookery 
books—commencing with our own Club receipts. Surely it is a culinary solecism 
to serve up beef with beef, and I must therefore take exception to the receipt that 
Fistulina Hepatica should be employed as an adjunct to its animal congener. If 
the former possesses all the characteristics of the latter and is to have any econo- 
mical value, it should be substitute for—not merely an addition to—the sufficiently 
popular beef-steak. As a further contribution to this branch of the subject let me 
call the attention of the Club to a curious letter in the Sloane collection (MS. 4292) 
dated Hereford, 15 Nov., 1659. In it the writer, who was evidently a travelled 
physician—the Dr. Bull of the period—notices the passion of the Italians for mush- 
rooms. ‘‘I have eaten the dish,” he says, “often at Sir Henry Wotton’s table 
(our resident ambassador at Venice), always dressed under the inspection of his 
Dutch-Venetian Johanne or Nic. Oudart, and truly it did deserve the old applause : 
as I found it at his table it was far beyond our English food. Neither did any of 
us find it of hard digestion, for we did not eat like Adamites but as modest men 
eat of much melons. If it were not hurtful to hold any kind of intelligence with 
Nic. Oudart I would ask him Sir Henry Wotton’s art of dressing mushrooms, and 
I hope that is not high treason.” May we hope, that in deference to the writer of 
this letter, who may be called the father of mycophagy in Herefordshire, the cook 
will at our next banquet prepare us a dish of what Massinger calls ‘‘ the Italian 
delicate—oiled mushrooms? But to turn to the scientific side of the question. 
The Woolhope Club may be fairly congratulated upon the work done by its 
members in this direction. It has been the means of adding to the list of British 
fungi during the past year six species hitherto unknown in this country. Ifthe Foray 
had produced no other fruit than this it would be sufficient to justify the gathering ; 
but in truth the presence amongst us of such men as Dr. Cooke, Messrs. Rennie, 
Plowright, and Worthington Smith, gives life and vigour to our Club, as well as an 
impetus to the study of Cryptogamic Botany. Another matter for congratulation 
is the entire success of the Pomological Exhibition. It far surpassed my expecta- 
tions, and bids fair to become an institution of great practical value, In 
Herefordshire any one with a rood of land may safely calculate upon raising roses 
and apples, but of late years a good deal more attention has been bestowed upon 
the former than upon the latter, and the Club will be doing good service if it helps 
to re-establish the reputation for fruit which our county anciently possessed. At 
present in nearly every garden much space is occupied by trees which bear only 
inferior fruit ; worn-out grafts which have long outlived their fame still linger in 
the soil, and ignorance and prejudice combine to exclude new varieties which 
elsewhere have secured an honourable place. It is for the Woolhope Club to find 
a remedy for these evils, and, following in the footsteps of Scudamore and Phillips, 
Andrew Knight and Uvedale Price, make Herefordshire once more the Orchard of 
England, and teach the United States that we can grow something better than 
even their much vaunted Newtown pippins. I have not yet seen the Report of 
