TRUFFLE. 35g 



induce some truffle-men to make the experi- 

 ment, which, if successful, would enable us 

 to cultivate truffles in our houses and gardens. 

 as we have already done mushrooms. 



It is thought that truffles are not aborigi- 

 nals of England, but that they were brought 

 from France among the roots of trees : this 

 opinion seems to be confirmed from the cir- 

 cumstance of Dr. Hatton's first findino; them 

 only in one situation, near Rushton in the 

 county of Northampton, a place stocked 

 with trees that were formerly brought from 

 Languedoc. Dr. Tancred Robertson assures 

 us that they are the true French truffles. The 

 author of this work found the same kind of 

 truffles in the neighbourhood of Michelgrove, 

 the ancient seat of the Shelly family, between 

 Arundel and Worthing, and observed also 

 that this estate had been planted formerly 

 with foreign timber-trees. If their introduc- 

 tion really arose from this circumstance, it is 

 a sufficient proof that they may be cultivated. 



The ancients were exceedingly divided as 

 to the use of truffles : some affirmed that they 

 were wholesome, and others that they were 

 pernicious. Avicenna, who wrote about the 

 year 1000, says they cause apoplexies. M. 

 Lemery, a French physician, who lived in the 



