366 



The Esculent Funguses of England. 



Vol. XIT. 



No markets mig'ht, therefore, be better sup- 

 plied than the English, and yet Enijland is 

 the only country in Europe where this im- 

 portant and savoury food is, from ifrnortince 

 or prejudice, left to perish ungathored. In 

 France, Germany, and Italy, funguses not 

 only constitute for weeks together the sole 

 diet of thousands, but the residue, either 

 fresh, dried, or variously preserved, in oil, 

 vinegar, or brine, is sold by the poor, and 

 forms a valuable source of income to many 

 who have no otiier produce to bring into the 

 market. Well then may we style them with 

 Mons. Roques, ' the rnanna of the poor T " 



In Italy these things are better managed. 

 In the markets of Rome many thousand 

 pounds weight are annually disposed of; and 

 an income of many thousand pounds sterling 

 is thus derived. 



"The following brief summary was drawn 

 up by Professor Sanguinetti, the Official In- 

 pector — Ispettore dei Funghi — at Rome: let 

 it speak for itself: ' For forty days during 

 the autumn, and for about half that period 

 every spring, large quantities of funguses, 

 picked in the immediate vicinity of Rome, 

 from Frascali, Rocca di Papa, Albano, be- 

 yond iMonte .Mario, towards Ostia and the 

 neiohbourhood of the sites of Veii and Gabii, 

 are brought in at the different gates. In the 

 year 1837 the Government instituted the 

 so-called Congregazione Speciale di Sani- 

 ta, which among other duties was more par- 

 ticularly required to take into serious consi- 

 deration the commerce of funguses, from the 

 unrestricted sale of which during some years 

 past, cases of poisoning had not unfreqiiently 

 occurred. The following decisions were ar- 

 rived at by this body: 



'"1st. — That for the future an "Inspector 

 of Funguses," versed in botany, should be 

 appointed to attend the market in place of 

 the peasant, whose supposed practical know- 

 ledge had hitherto been held as sufficient 

 guarantee for the public safety. 



"'2nd. — That all the funguses brought 

 into Rome by the different gates should be 

 registered, under the surveillance of the 

 principal officer, in whose presence also the 

 baskets were to be sealed up, and the whole 

 for that day's consumption sent under escort 

 to a central depot. 



"'3rd. — That a certain spot should be 

 fixed upon for the fungus market, and that 

 nobody under penalty of fine and imprison- 

 ment should hawk them about the streets. 



" '4th. — That at seven o'clock, A. M., pre- 

 cisely, the inspector should ])ay his daily 

 visit, and examine the whole, the contents 

 of the baskets being previously emptied on 

 the ground by the proprietors, who were 

 then to receive, if the funguses were ap- 



proved of, a printed permission of sale from 

 the police, and to pay for it an impost of one 

 baioccho (a half-penny) on every ten pounds. 



" '.5th. — That quantities under ten pounds 

 should not be taxed. 



"'6th. — That the stale funguses of the 

 preceding day, as well as those that were 

 mouldy, bruised, filled with maggots, or dan- 

 gerous (mufft, guasti, verininosi, velenosi,) 

 together with any specimen of the common 

 mushroom {Agaricus canipeslris) detected 

 in any of the baskets, should be sent under 

 escort and thrown into the Tiber. 



" '7th. — That the inspector should be em- 

 powered to fine or imprison all those refrac- 

 tory to the above regulations; and, finally, 

 that he should furnish a weekly report to the 

 Tribunal of Provisions {11 Tribunale delle 

 Grascie') of the proceeds of the sale.' 



"As all fresh funguses for sale in quanti- 

 ties exceeding ten pounds are weighed, in 

 order to be taxed, we are enabled to arrive 

 at an exact estimate of the number of pounds 

 thus disposed of The return of taxed mush- 

 rooms in the city of Rome during the last 

 ten years, gives a yearly average of between 

 sixty and eighty thousand pounds weight; 

 and if we double this amount, as we may 

 safely do, in order to include such smaller 

 untaxed supplies as are disposed of in bribes, 

 fees, and presents, and reckon the whole at 

 the rate of six baiocchi, or three pence per 

 lb. — a fair average, — this will make the com- 

 mercial value of fresh funguses very appa- 

 rent, showing it here to be little less than 

 £2,000 a year. But the fresh funguses form 

 only a small part of the whole consumption, 

 to which must be added the dried, the pickled, 

 and the preserved; which sell at a much 

 higher price tlian the fir.-t. Supposing, how- 

 ever, that with these additions the supply of 

 all kinds only reached a sum the double of 

 that given above, even this would furnish us 

 with an annual average of nearly yb^r thou- 

 sand pounds sterling ; and this in a single 

 city, and that, too, by no means the most 

 populous one in Italy! What then must be 

 the net receipts of all the market-places of 

 all the Italian States? For as in these the 

 proportion of the price of esculent funguses 

 to butchers' meat is as two to three, it is 

 plain, that prejudice has deprived the poor 

 of this country, not only of many thousand 

 pounds of the former, but also of as much of 

 the latter as might have been purchased by 

 exchange, and of the countless sums which 

 nnaht have been earned in gathering them." 



There is no country where fungi do not 

 abound, and probably there is in none a lack 

 of esculent species. The Russians are some 

 what filmed for the number of fungi which 

 they employ as food — about fifty kmds. In 



