SEPTEMBER. 



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these humble and despised vegetables, which the 

 clown kicks away with his foot, will certainly 

 appear to an attentive eye not destitute of their 

 share. In roaming the ancient wilds of Sherwood 

 Forest in the autumn of 1827, I was particularly 

 struck with their varying character; some broad, 

 tabular and flecked with brown; some in the shade 

 of trees, of a pearly whiteness ; others of a brilliant 

 rose-colour; some whose delicate surfaces were 

 studded with dark embossments, some fashioned 

 like a Chinese parasol, others gibbous and gro- 

 tesque ; the massy puff-ball, which, before it be- 

 comes dry has been known to weigh several 

 pounds; the pestilent, scented, and ginger mush- 

 room, for all the world the exact resemblance of a 

 Simnel-cake. The fungi of the fine dry summer 

 and autumn of 1834 were remarkable both for size 

 and numbers. Mushrooms were brought to market 

 in amazing quantities. In Clifton Grove, near Not- 

 tingham, I saw puff-balls so large that they re- 

 sembled the stone balls on the gateways of old 

 halls. I had the curiosity to measure one, and 

 found it two feet four inches in circumference. On 

 Salisbury plains I saw an old woman gathering 

 what she called horse-mushrooms, to sell for cat- 

 sup. They grew in fairy-rings or ver-rings, as 

 they are there called, and had all the characters 

 of true mushrooms, the thick stool, the rosy gills, 

 and the catsup odour, but were of the size of a 

 man's head. Similar ones in size and species I saw 

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