248 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



" Mushrooms have the same effect as animal food, and they 

 satiate appetite in the same way; nor can they be eaten except 

 in moderate quantities, when compared with vegetable food. When 

 taken at the time of their perfection, they cannot do harm, and, 

 in fact, are then as nourishing as meats. But when too much of 

 mushroom is eaten at one time, violent indigestion is apt to be 

 caused. The very same mushroom which is healthy and nour- 

 ishing when picked at the right time, becomes a poison if picked 

 some hours too late. 



" We know how unwholesome all meat becomes by being 

 unsound even a little. Mushrooms in a very little time reach 

 putrefaction. And it is too true, that the three sorts of wild 

 mushrooms good to eat throughout France, the south only 

 excepted, where they eat them with impunity, are mortal in the 

 climate of Paris. They are there called oronges. Cardinal 

 Caprara thought he knew mushrooms well enough; he had these 

 oronges cooked, and, in spite of all remonstrance, ate them, and 

 died, together with his native cook, who prepared them for dinner. 

 But all danger disappears when mushrooms are cultivated in beds, 

 for no unwholesome ones will grow there; so that the cultivated 

 mushroom is free from all danger, if gathered and eaten while 

 fresh. The white, for production, is always taken from horse, 

 ass or mule dung. The beds need equal temperature, darkness 

 and little humidity. The temperature must never exceed about 

 51° Fahrenheit, nor fall below 49*^. The English have cultivated 

 them on a large scale, and their books contain their methods; 

 Miller's Dictionary of Gardening, and others. Mr. Wales mixes 

 two parts of cow dung with one of sheep and one of horse. Tlie 

 white seems perishable, and yet it can be preserved in all its 

 energy for many years, by keeping it in a very dry place. Miller 

 found it more .productive than fresh white." 



Thirty or forty years ago, I sometimes gathered, within two 

 miles of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in the autumn, on old pas- 

 ture grounds, abundance of the best mushrooms, and treated 

 myself and family often with their delicious relish, with as per- 

 fect subsequent health as can be enjoyed. I gathered those that 

 were fresh, and ate them at dinner. 



