1 6 OMENSETTKR : 



Of more immediate interest are the esculent fungi. Of 

 these by far the greater number are comprised in the family 

 of Agarics, a division which takes its name from Agaria, 

 a region of Sarmatia. Our English word mushroom, by 

 which all kinds of edible fungi are commonly designated, has 

 a French origin and comes from the word iiioussetvti. 



Among one thousand American fungi described by Charles 

 Mcllvaine, some seven hundred are catalogued as fit to be 

 eaten, having more or less commendatory flavors, while less 

 than a dozen are fatally poisonous. With most persons, but 

 one species, the well-known meadow mushroom, is worthy of 

 confidence. Their creed is expressed in the quaint words of 

 the old herbalist, Gerard, who said, 



"The nieailowe innshrooin is in kinde the Ijest ; 

 It is ill trusting any of the rest." 



And yet, by those living in the country, what teeming wealth 

 of nutriment is allowed to go to waste because of lack of 

 knowledge. 



It is a pleasant thing to sally forth early in the day, under 

 the first burst of sunshine which breaks out on a soft, clear 

 morning in September, and to see how the night dews have 

 been at work hastening the growth of fungi. 



We need hardly say that mushrooms are excellent pickled. 

 The way to preserve them is to select all the buttons; place 

 them, skins and all, in a stewpan with allspice, salt and 

 pepper ; stew them until they have given out every drop of 

 their juice and have re-absorbed all those juices, charged 

 with the flavor of the spices among which they had been 

 stewing. When this process is completed, add as much hot 

 vinegar as will cover your mushrooms, boil them just for a 

 minute, and they are finished. The large, broad specimens 

 are delicious broiled with salt and pepper, and the middle 

 sized kinds stewed in their own juice, with a little pepper, 

 salt and butter. 



Throughout the continent of Europe, plants of the fungus 



