90 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



by eating a white mushroom of attractive appearance. Tliere is 

 only one safe ground, — to know them as well as we know our com- 

 mon vegetables. It would be difficult to describe the difference 

 between the bulb of a hj^acinth aud that of an onion, yet no one 

 would ever mistake one for the other ; and so while it is difficult to 

 describe in words the distinction between different mushrooms, it is 

 not difficult to distinguish them by the eye when once educated to 

 do so. The speaker thought the poisonous qualities of mushrooms 

 exaggerated. He had eaten forty different kinds. There are in 

 Massachusetts perhaps a thousand different varieties — as different 

 one from another as a cherry is from a plum, or a raspberry from a 

 strawberry. 



In answer to an inquiry Mr. Palmer said that he did not think 

 there was any danger of finding deleterious species among the 

 mushrooms of commerce, as there is no variety hkely to make its 

 appearance in the beds of the cultivator, which he could not easily 

 distinguish from the true kind. 



Mr. Hovey said there was no doubt that many of the fungus 

 tribe, the mvishroom and traffic especially, are very valuable, form- 

 ing excellent, agreeable, and pleasant food. Though several are 

 known to be harmless, in our present state of knowledge it is rather 

 dangerous to eat those with which we are not familiar. The Coprinus 

 and the common mushroom are distinct, and there is also a small 

 brown one known as the almond mushroom, having a taste like 

 ahnonds. The common mushroom is well known, and if we get to 

 be as familiar with the family generally as we are with beets and 

 turnips, the}^ would be available as food. At present the numlier 

 esteemed as wholesome will not count much in comparison with the 

 injurious species. 



Mr. Palmer said that the profusion of food in this country was 

 such that we had availed ourselves of the fungi to a ver}' small ex- 

 tent only, but in other countries it was different. The Chinese and 

 Japanese would regard our waste of fungi as we should the rotting 

 of grapes in the vine3^ard. Large quantities of mushrooms are 

 eaten by the Chinese in California ; they are grown in Mexico and 

 imported from thence into San Francisco. The speaker said that 

 he ate the common horse mushroom, or champignon, and regarded 

 them as nutritious. They are rich in nitrogen and take the place 

 of meat, 3ielding a gravy like that of meat. Thc}^ live like animals, 

 absorbing oxygen and giving off carbon — the reverse of phseno- 

 gamous plants. 



