64 OUTLINES OF HUITISH FUXGOLOGV. 



whether iu a fresh state or in the form of ketchup. The extent 

 to wliich this latter article is prepared is quite astonishing. A 

 single ketchup-merchant has, at the moment at which I write, 

 in consequence of the enormous produce of ^Mushrooms du- 

 ring the present season^ no less than eight hundred gallons on 

 hand, and that collected within a radius of some three or four 

 miles. The price of IVIushrooms for ketchup in country dis- 

 tricts varies very greatly in different years. In the present 

 year it has not reached, at least in the district in which I 

 write, one penny per pound, while in some years as much as 

 fivepence is readily given. In years of scarcity, almost any 

 species that will yield a dark juice is without scruple mixed 

 with the common Mushroom, and it should seem without any 

 had consequence, except the deterioration of the ketchup. 

 The hest ketchup, however, is made undoubtedly from the 

 common Mushroom {A. campestris), and especially from that 

 variety which changes to a bright red when bruised. That 

 from A. arvensis (Plate 10, fig. 4) is far inferior. Good ketch- 

 up may be made from A. procerus and some others, and that 

 from the Champignon is excellent, but so strong that it re- 

 quires to be used with caution. ^Morels also, when abundant, 

 yield, treated in the same way as Mushrooms for ketchup, an 

 admirable condiment. 



An important use is made of a particular condition of cer- 

 tain species of INIould in the preparation of fermented liquors, 

 under tlie form of yeast. This consists, as is well known, 

 of more or less oval bodies, which continually give off joints, 

 so as to produce short, branched, necklace-like threads. These 

 joints soon fall off, and give rise rapidly to a new generation, 

 which is successively propagated till the substance is produced 

 known under the name of yeast. AYhen placed under proper 

 conditions, the joints undergo a further change, and give rise 



