370 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



Our own herbalist Gerard's condemnation 

 of mushrooms is curious : he says, " Many 

 wantons, that dwell neere the sea, and have 

 fish at will, are very desirous, for change of 

 diet, to feede vpon the birds of the moun- 

 taines ; and such as dwell vpon the hills or 

 champion grounds, do long after sea-fish ; 

 many that haue plenty of both, doe hunger 

 after the earthie excrescences, called mush- 

 rooms : fewe of them are good to be eaten, 

 and most of them do suffocate and strangle 

 the eater. Therefore I giue my simple aud- 

 uice vnto those that loue such strange and 

 newe fangled meates, to beware of licking 

 honie among thornes, least the sweetness of 

 the one do not counteruaile the sharpness 

 and pricking of the other/' This author 

 says, the best mushrooms grow on mountains 

 and hilly places. 



According to Lord Bacon, mushrooms 

 " have two strange properties : the one, that 

 they yield so delicious a meate ; the other, 

 that they come up so hastily, as in a night, 

 and yet are unsown ; and, therefore, such as 

 are upstarts in state are called in reproach 

 mushrooms. We find," says he, " that mush- 

 rooms cause the accident which we call 

 Incubus, or the mare in the stomach; and 



