184* THE VEGETABLE CULTIVATOR. 



Mushrooms are very extensively used for making 

 the well-known catsup ; they are also much es- 

 teemed as a pickle, and, when stewed with rich 

 gravies, are most delicious. They are considered a 

 luxurious dish in most parts of the world, and are^ 

 cultivated in most parts of Europe particularly as a 

 delicious food ; but in no country is their cultivation 

 so general as in England, where they are produced 

 at all seasons of the year; and little or no ap- 

 prehension is now entertained (if used in moder- 

 ation) respecting their dangerous qualities, since 

 they have become the care of the British gardener. 

 The author has never heard of any person having 

 suffered from eating cultivated mushrooms, although 

 they are in general use in London ; which the quan- 

 tity brought to the London markets throughout the 

 year fully exemplifies. In Paris they have but few, 

 except such as are gathered in the fields ; and there 

 are continual accounts of deaths caused by this vege- 

 table ; attributable most likely to excess in eating 

 them, and to the want of due care in selecting the 

 genuine sort, which principally grows in open fields. 

 Such as are overtopped by trees are not to be de- 

 pended on, as their roots probably run near the 

 surface, and often throw out a spurious variety, 

 which will be found to grow out of the earth in a 

 short time about six inches high, rounding at bot- 

 tom like a bladder full of holes, or fine-wrought 

 net-work, with gills red as scarlet, and of a most 

 disagreeable scent when they get old. Hence such 

 only as grow in the open fields should be gathered, 

 and in such fields only as have been known to pro- 

 duce mushrooms of the best quality for a number of 



