70 FLOWERLESS PLANTS 



how to multiply and cultivate those species which have 

 commercial or esculent value. Everybody would eat 

 truffles if he had the chance, but the supply is limited 

 by ignorance of a sure method of propagation. This 

 ignorance can only be dispelled by scientific study ; and 

 it is worth while to make the effort, because, so prolific 

 is this excellent little fungus by nature, that the in- 

 habitants of Apt, relying on haphazard and traditional 

 industry, send four thousand pounds weekly to market 

 during the season, and about thirty tons are collected 

 annually in the department of Vaucluse. Truffle-hunt- 

 ing was formally a profitable industry in the southern 

 counties of England, but it has well nigh expired, as the 

 French species possesses a finer flavour. But has any one 

 tried to introduce the French truffle to English soil ? 



To those who adopt scientific research as a pastime, 

 the study of fungi may be commended as one which 

 holds out more hope of original discovery than most 

 branches of science. Dr. Cooke is too modest to repeat 

 a story about himself, but it is worth telling as an 

 illustration of the interest arising out of his chosen 

 pursuit. In Dr. Cooke's house there was a wall, which, 

 in spite of all repairs, remained persistently damp. It 

 was papered and varnished, but paper and varnish were 

 destroyed by a growth of mould. Had Dr. Cooke been 

 an ordinary mortal, such as a collector of snuffer-trays 

 or old postage-stamps, he would have told his house- 

 maid to scrub the mould off" as fast as it grew. But 

 Dr. Cooke is not an ordinary mortal he is a myco- 

 logist; so he carefully protected the mould patches 



