124 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[August, 



poisoning ; vomiting and purging occurred, 

 followed by delirium in the mother and con- 

 vulsions in the children. The children, aged 

 six and thirtecm, died three days afterwards, 

 but the mother gradually recovered. Mr. 

 Smith, in fidl contidenee, ate liall'-a-dozen 

 after having cooked them. Witliiu an hour 

 or two the usual symptoms of poisoning came 

 on, with burning of the throat, irresistible de- 

 pression of spirits and disordered stomach, 

 which fortunately for him, gradually passed 

 oft' without more serious consequences. An- 

 other statement says : Mr. Worthington Smith 

 aimually attends the Hereford Fungus Festi- 

 val, where earnest fungologists have a fungus 

 banquet, and therefore he must be regarded as 

 a judge. Neverllieless this eminent fuugolo- 

 gist, with his family, were nearly poi.soned by 

 eating another fungus, the Agaricus fertilis. 

 The cooked specimens scarcely weighed half- 

 an-ounce, and yet Mr. Smith, his wife and 

 child, suffered severely thrciugh it. Mr. Smith 

 states that the gastronomic qualities were ex- 

 cellent, so that the sense of smell and taste 

 afforded no indication of its poisonous quali- 

 ties. The sym|)toms in this case were swim- 

 ming of the head, nause;i*, vomiting and pros- 

 tration. Dee]) but uneasy sleep followed, and 

 perfect recovery did not take place for ten 

 days or a fiirtnight. (A. Smee, pp. 359). If 

 the laudation of some stimulates us to "' go for 

 them, " such facts are enough to cause us to 

 "stand still a bit and think about it. " 1 may 

 be excusable for declaring with Alfred Smee, 

 tliat for years I have attempted to discover a 

 test for ihe discriniination of wh<jlesome from 

 poisonous fungi, but have failed. 



And yet when we consider that in some sec- 

 tions they are collected by the quantity and 

 sold at the markets — without hearing of any 

 bad x-esults — there must lie a secret somewhere 

 whether in .soil, pabulum, weather, or certain 

 conditions, I shall not pretend to say from 

 my limited experience. 



Vinegar, salt, alcohol and cooking properly 

 dispels a certain acrid volatile principle, in 

 orwoi, rantmcuhis, and why not in fungi. Still 

 there is, nevertheless, in some species a fixed 

 principle that these means will not remove, 

 and therefore cannot be used for food with 

 safety. 



On one of my botanical rambles I met, in 

 Mr. Horst's woods, near the Chickies creek, a 

 fungus in a clean grassy spot, in size, sha])e 

 and color that of a large home-made loaf of 

 bread. I thought this was a monster, and 

 cutting it open 1 fouud it of a uniform tex- 

 ture and a rather pleasant odor, and no doubt 

 edible, but 1 pa.ssed it. This, however, is no 

 comparison to the one mentioned by Dr. (ire- 

 ville, found in J"2ngiand, the J^oh/iionis ,S(pi<i- 

 wo,sM.s, which attained a circumference of seven 

 feet and live inches, and weighing thirty-four 

 pounds after having been cut four days. It 

 was only of fourwec^ks growth, thus acquiring 

 an increase equal to nineteen ounces jier day. 

 Dr. Liudley has computed that the cell multi- 

 plied at the extradordinary rate of .si.ctii iiiil- 

 lions in a minute. This was- a similar i)utt-bidl 

 to the one I mentioned, and s})rung up during 

 the night to the size of a punqikin, as stated 

 by Lindley. In the work of F. A. Pouchet, 

 M. D., from the French, "The universe, or 

 the inlinitely great and the intinitely little," 

 on page 4;5ti, is a picture of a boy on his knees 

 on the side of a Gigantic Lycopei'don or pufi- 

 ball of one night's growth, copied from nature, 

 and mentions the "feverish activity which 

 must reign in the vital hiboratory of those 

 monstrous lycoperdons, nine feet in circumfer- 

 ence, of which Bulliard speaks in his History 

 of Fungi." 



If my communication is not calculated to 

 give the reader any clear guide to enable him 

 to select edible fungi with any degree of cer- 

 tainty, it will at least give some idea of the 

 ditficnlty of the task — nor do I believe in giv- 

 ing only one side of any s\ibject. I have long 

 ago learned that to every (juestion there are 

 two extremes, and an old proverb, in the Ger- 

 man, says, " Middle mass, ist die Ijeste strass. " 

 Mushroom and Truffle — Appendix. 



Agaricus campestris — the cultivated mush- 



room — is so important, in a culinary point of 

 view, that a constant supplj- is desirable. The 

 culture is easy when tlio proper means are 

 used. To grow mushrooms artilicially, fresh 

 horse droppings must be obtained from the 

 stables, placed under cover, in an airy shed, 

 till thoroughly dry ; when dry these droppings 

 are packed into a solid bed, in a suitable out- 

 house, which will cause the material to heat — 

 care must be taken not to allow it to become 

 too hot, say blooil heat — pieces of spawn, which 

 contain the mycelium of the mushroom, about 

 the size of an egg, are inserted into various 

 parts of the bed. This bed must be kept per- 

 fectly dry for about six weeks, by which 

 time the mycelium, or long threads of the 

 spawn, will have run through the bed. All 

 this time the bed must be kept dry and at a 

 temperature of about 00° Fahr. In six or 

 seven weeks the spawn has filled the mass ; the 

 material may now be gently sprinkled with 

 lukewarm water, but care should betaken not 

 to give too much water, lest the mycelium rot. 

 A few days after watering, little buttons are 

 formed, which in a few hours expand into 

 mushrooms. By carefully following these di- 

 rections there is no danger of failing to raise 

 a crop. Some recommend covering the bed 

 with loam, but this is not necessary ; a cave 

 or cellar is considered of advantage to raise 

 them in. What is called nuishroom spawn is 

 usually made of horse droppings, formed into 

 masses shaped like bricks, tlirough which the 

 mj'celium is allowed to penetrate. Warmth 

 and moisture promote the growth. 



The Morel (Mm-chtUa cbculcUus) is highly 

 esteemed in France. The Truffle (Tuber 

 a'Stivum) ought to be found in the limestone dis- 

 tricts, if understood like the trutfle-hnnters of 

 Euroi)e do, where to look for them, Init they 

 train dogs; this they do by placing a truffle in 

 an old shoe and making the dog find it, and 

 make his being fed depend upon it; when he 

 understands once, he soon depends on his scent, 

 and will smell it under the soil; so the dog will 

 when taken out to hunt the truffle in the field 

 smell it and scratch for it. Tlie dog is soon 

 trained. However, before we can traiu dogs to 

 hunt the truffle we must first find it to train 

 him with, and there is the difficulty, provided 

 we even have them hidden away in our fields 

 and unknown. 



Truffles (Tuber cibarium.) 



Grow a few inches beneath the surface of the 

 soil, which is usually of a dry and light (luality, 

 and around the roots of oak anil chestnut trees, 

 t'ollecti^d between October and January, when 

 fully matured they become gelatinous and 

 gradually dissolve, are about the size of a hen's 

 egg, and have no roots or fibrils; the skin is 

 blacki.sh or dark grey, with small projections 

 like warts on it. The fiesh is greyish white or 

 blackish with black or brown veins. I mention 

 this, because if such a thing would be dug up, 

 noone would sui)poseit was the fam(ais Truffle, 

 and its discovery even unknown, unless a 

 reader of The Fakjieu.— ,7. Stauffer. 



[We also, in common with our contributor, 

 and others, have for a long lime been waiting 

 10 see a reliable work on edible mushrooms, 

 ])roperly illustrated, issued from the American 

 jiress, and accessible to the general reader; and' 

 yet, from all we have read upon the subject, it 

 seems to be involved in some dilficulty and 

 doubt, when it embraces those species with 

 which we have not been practically familiar 

 from our youth up. When we were a boy of 

 ten or a dfizen years. Mushrooms, ^Morels, 

 (called " Mauricles") and also a species called 

 " Pipestems," were much commoner than we 

 have ever known them to be since, and rich 

 and iioor, learned and unlearned, intelligent 

 and ignorant, gatbendthem, cooked them and 

 ate them, without any seeming api)rehcnsions 

 of poisoning. It is true, unlike the restless 

 gastronomic siarit of the present age, they con- 

 fined themselves to two or three well known 

 species, but these were freely used, without the 

 least suspicion. The pijiestems were not aliun- 

 dant, not common, and were only ajipropriated 

 by tlie knowing ones. We opine, however, 

 that even if a book were published on the sub- 



ject, and the species well defined and illustrated 

 there would be still some experimental knowl- 

 edge required, before the people would trust 

 the species to which they had not been long 

 previously accustomed. — Ed.] 



i"or Thf. Lancasteb Fabmeb, 

 THE MAGPIE PIGEON. 



Magpies belong to that numerous class of 

 fancy pigeons — mostly German productions — 

 known as "Toys" or Toy birds. The Ger- 

 mans have well wrought out their peculiar 

 taste for vivid and striking combinations of 

 colors in pigeons. Toys are birds whose chief 

 characteristics are their plumage, and differ 

 from other pigeons in lacking any decided pe- 

 culiarity of form or skeleton. Thus while any 

 fancier could recognize without a moment's 

 hesitation, a pouter, carrier or Button head, 

 devoid of all feathering, yet n(*«e could tell 

 one variety of many toys from another nor 

 from a common pigeon. In some few varieties 



of toys there are 

 in the best speci- 

 mens certain less 

 decided but still 

 distinctive varia- 

 tions or types of 

 form, as for in- 

 stance the low, 

 heavy, and clum- 

 sy framework of 

 the swallow is en- 

 tirelv disti net 

 from the upright, 

 elastic build of the bird under con.sideration. 

 The magpie, as its name implies, is so called 

 from the English native bird which it resem- 

 bles. In color it is nearly the counterpart of 

 its namesake. Black is the most popular vari- 

 ety, being also the easiest perfected. A black 

 magpie should be marked as follows : head, 

 neck, upper part of body and tail black, re- 

 mainder of iilumage white. The black and 

 white should be distinctly separated by a well- 

 defined line — in no case should they intermin- 

 gle. A very common blemish is the indistinct- 

 ness of markings ; this point especially must 

 be carefully regarded. One chief beauty of 

 the magpie is the exceeding richness and in- 

 tensity of color, if a black, a jet, glo.ss}' black; 

 if a yellow, a clear rich butter yellow, &c. 

 The feet and shanks should be entirely free 

 from feathering, and of a bright red color. 

 The eyes should be clear pearl. That is the 

 iris a clear white or nearly so, while the pupil is 

 a rich 'black. Magpies are excellent fiyers, and a 

 trained flock on the wing makes a most beau- 

 tiful sight. They are good, free breeders, feed 

 and rear their young tolerably well. Alto- 

 gether tln'y are a very pleasing variet}', and 

 rank liigh in the catalogue of tlie finest toys. 

 — W. Atlee Burpee. 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 

 THE WINTERING OF PLANTS. 



It is always an object witli housekeepers to get 

 califja^e, eaulillower and lettuce as carfy in tlie sjirini;; 

 as possiitle. Lettuce Itself is often sown in tfie Cafl 

 and left to take itsehaneeof witfistandinjrtlie winter, 

 whleli some kinds occasionally, but the finer sorts 

 seldom do. 



Calibage and cauliflower are not hardy enouq^h to 

 stand this kind of treatment In our latitude, even In 

 the mildest winters. The good woman of the house, 

 therefore, often brings her kitchen or sitting-room 

 window into play, to raise plants of the above some- 

 what earlier than they can be raised in the open 

 ground. These plants, liowever, being raised in a 

 warm air, where no cold current ever strikes them, 

 are not hardy enough to plant before the middle of 

 April, and some delaj' till even near May. 



There is a way of raising these plants by which 

 their earliness can be forwarded at least tliree weeks, 

 and It Is done as follows : 



About September 1.5th to 20th, for this latitude, a 

 piece of ground is prepared by spading under and 

 nnxing with the soil three inelies of short and well 

 decomposed barn-yard manure, thoroughly pulver- 

 izing tlie soil, aud Immediately sowing tfiereou the 

 seeds of cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce. By such 

 heavy manuring as this the plants will be ready to 

 transplant Into cold-frames by the middle of October. 

 Lettuce is usually planted iufo the cold frames at the 

 distance of 13<f iiicjies each way, and flat as it grew 

 in the seed beds. Cabbage and caulittower are given 

 'i'X to 3} 2 iuehes space, aud set down as deep as pos- 



