PREFACE. VU 



preached the subject with the necessary solemnity. 

 Nobody but he who first saw the deep dangers of 

 hurried, thoughtless, and irreverent feeding, could have 

 done justice to its exquisite flavour when in the best 

 condition, or could have explained how deliciously it 

 combined the virtues of herb and flesh, unspeakably 

 superior to either. Let us, in passing, quote one of his 

 aphorisms, contributed to form the base eternelle a la 

 science : ." La decouverte d'un mets nouveau fait plus 

 pour le bonheur du genre humain que. la decouverte d'une 

 etoile !" 



Now, I do not nesitate to say that the introduction 

 of the Mushroom into our domestic economy in as great 

 a degree as we have it in our power to produce it, 

 would practically be the addition of a new agent in our 

 cuisine, second to none for its delicacy, and unsurpassed 

 for utility. It is true the Mushroom is plentiful in its 

 season, but it is with us, at all seasons when it is not 

 to be gathered in the open air, a luxury to numbers 

 of owners of gardens who have means to grow it. As 

 for the much larger class who ought to be supplied 

 from our markets, they seldom see or taste a Mushroom 

 except when these occur in profusion in our fields, 

 though every cart of stable-manure produced in this 

 great horse-keeping country may, on its way towards 

 decomposition and replenishing the earth, be made a 

 nidus for furnishing many dishes of them. 



