EDIBLE FUNGI. 117 



several times, so as to mash and extract their juice. 

 On the third day strain off the liquor, measure, and boil 

 for ten minutes, and then to every pint of the liquor 

 add half an ounce of tlack pepper, a quarter of an ounce 

 of bruised ginger-root, a blade of mace, a clove or two, 

 and a tea-spoonful of mustard-seed. Boil again for half 

 an hour ; put in two or three bay leaves, and set aside 

 till quite cold. Pass through a strainer, and bottle; 

 cork well, and dip the ends in resin. A very little Chili 

 vinegar is an improvement, and some add a glass of port 

 wine, or a glass of strong ale to every bottle. 



Care should be taken that the spice is not added so 

 abundantly as to overpower the true flavour of the agaric. 

 A careful cook will keep back a little of the simple 

 boiled liquor to guard against this danger : a good one 

 will always avoid it. " Doctors weigh their things," said 

 a capital cook, " but I go by taste." But then, like poets, 

 good cooks of this order must be born so ; they are not 

 to be made. 



Coprinus comatus (the Maned Agaric). 



Piltus cylindrical, obtuse, campanulate, fleshy in the 

 centre, but very thin towards the margin. The external 

 surface soon torn up into fleecy scales, with the exception 

 of a cap at the top. Gills free, linear, and crowded. 

 Quite white when young, becoming rose-coloured, sepia, 



