The Oaks 



Dyes are equally lasting, in distinct contrast to the cheap aniline 

 dyes in use nowadays, and the inks that fade in a year or two. 

 Here is something startling. A writer in England three centuries 

 ago thus recommends these galls to horse jockeys: "A handful or 

 two of small Oak buttons, mingled with Oats given to Horses, 

 which are black of colour, will in a few days eating alter it to a fine 

 Dapple grey." 



Truffles. The truffles of commerce, famous in the French 

 cuisine and well known to the gourmands in Rome's palmiest 

 days, are edible fungi, somewhat like puff balls in texture and 

 mode of growth. They grow as parasites upon the roots of 

 various trees, including the Holm oak and the English oak. 

 Limy soil is required by these fungi. They are produced in 

 southern England and on the Continent, reaching their highest 

 perfection in France and Italy. "The reputation of the truffle of 

 Perigord is as old as the world!" In an impassioned ode to this 

 delicacy, a fam.ous Frenchman uttered this apostrophe: 



"Noir diamant, perle de la Gascogne, 

 Tous les gourmets venerent ton pays!" 



Truffles bring astonishing prices in the markets of Europe. 

 This fact alone quite justifies the planting of chalky lands to oaks. 

 Yield of truffles is expected when the trees are a dozen years old, 

 and it continues without abatement for twenty-five years if con- 

 ditions remain favourable. 



The truffle hunter, often a peasant woman, goes into the 

 woods with a basket, a spading fork, and a dog or a pig, trained 

 to help her. The truffle has a rich, strong odour which these 

 animals detect by their keen sense of smell. The hunter keeps 

 close to the animal, which soon begins a vigorous digging or 

 rooting. It is at once interrupted. The eager quadruped is 

 sorely disappointed, for he is a truffle connoisseur and a gourmand. 

 His duty is to "point" the truffle only; the spading fork carefully 

 unearths the precious tuber and it goes into the basket. Unless 

 carefully tied or penned at night, these ill-used servants fare forth, 

 and help themselves to these subterranean delicacies by the light 

 of the moon. 



Truffles are doubtless present on roots of beech and oak in 

 our own woods. We have not yet taken time to discover and 

 exploit them. Our epicures are satisfied with the canned and 



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