7« OUTLINES OF BRITISH FUNGOLOGY. 



production of spawn, and, from what I saw of it, I felt almost 

 assured that in better hands the cultivation would at last 

 succeed. The grand point is to have plenty of lime in the 

 soil, without which there is little, if any, hope of Truffles. A 

 sort of cultivation is practised in Poitou, which consists in 

 enclosing a tract of downs, and sowing it with acorns, and in 

 the course of a few years a plentiful crop is almost uniformly 

 the result. The Viscomte Noe, in the south of France, suc- 

 ceeded in raising Truffles in his woods by irrigating the 

 ground, after a certain degree of preparation, with water in 

 which the skins of Truffles had been rubbed. At present, 

 however, no progress has been made in the garden, nor do 

 gardeners seem inclined to persevere in their attempts, though 

 success would be sure to be highly remunerative. 



As regards Boletus edulis, which is so highly esteemed in 

 many parts of the Continent, the only attempts which have 

 been made at cultivation are similar to those of Yiscomtc 

 Noe, and these have been attended with success. In either 

 case pains were taken to fence out the wild pigs, which are 

 the most deadly enemies to both Truffle and Boletus. 



The cultivation of the common ^Mushroom is carried on to 

 a very great extent wherever scientific gardening is practised, 

 but nowhere to a greater than at Paris, where the Catacombs 

 present all the requisite conditions. Mushrooms are gene- 

 rally raised from artificial spawn, which is purchased of the 

 seedsmen, and inserted in fragments amongst movdd carefully 

 prepared and placed either on the ground or on convenient 

 shelves ; and, where proper attention is paid to the requisite 

 degree of temperature and moisture, care being taken to 

 exceed neither, the cultivation is almost always successful 

 and very profitable. Some of the best cultivators, however, 

 as Mr. Ingram at Belvoir, make use of nothing more than 



