106 A PLAIN AND EAST ACCOUNT 



for soups, in which state they are imported. The 

 ordinary retail price is from one shilling to eighteen 

 pence an ounce. Although only employed here in its 

 dried state for seasoning, it is far more delicious when 

 fresh, and affords a liquor of much more exquisite 

 flavour than the ketchup of mushrooms. The demand 

 was formerly so great for morells in Germany, that the 

 peasantry were, induced to hum down the woodland in 

 immense tracts, on account of the more productive 

 nature of the burnt soil, until legislative enactments 

 put an end to the practice. 



We have three native species of Morchella, one of 

 which (M . patula) is too rare to be of economic im- 

 portance. Of the other two, M. esculenta is distin- 

 guished by having the base of the pileus attached to the 

 stem (fig. h). In M. semilibera the pileus is free half- 

 way up from its base. In the former the pileus is 

 commonly ovate, and in the latter conical. M. esculenta 

 is more a lover of woods, and M. semilibera of hedges. 

 The capability of distinguishing between the two is of 

 little importance for alimentary purposes, since both are 

 good, and equally esteemed abroad. We have the 

 authority of M. Roques for stating, that they are not 

 less esteemed in France than in Italy, in Germany than 

 in Switzerland, and in Brabant than in England. Some 

 give the preference to one kind, and some to the other ; 

 but both have nearly the same odour which gratifies the 

 smell, and the same flavour which pleases the taste ; 

 but they must not be gathered with the dew upon them. 

 Different methods of cooking morells are in vogue 



