394) Instructions for TnvffieSearchmg. 



from the common edible truffle. By some botanists, however, 

 it is esteemed to be the same in a young state, and by others is 

 said to be a variety. It has a leathery, thin, yellowish red rind 

 or skin, covered with small dark warts. Its juicy flesh is, for 

 the most part, of the colour and consistence of that of the edible 

 truffle. It is, nevertheless, very often more coarsely marbled. 

 Its taste, when raw, is not equal to that of the edible truffle, 

 and its smell is unpleasantly sour, nearly approaching to 

 that of the swine, from which it derives its name. Many 

 writers, following each other, enumerate the longish round 

 truffles amongst swine-truffles, and reject the use of them. I 

 have, however, found this quite incorrect. The external form 

 is very various in truffles, and cannot alone afford any charac- 

 teristic. 



When ripe it usually attains the size of a bean, or that of a 

 small walnut, but sometimes that of a hen's egg. On account 

 of its disagreeable taste and smell, it is not eaten ; and therefore 

 when it is abundantly met with, it is by no means welcome to 

 the truffle-hunter, but is immediately thrown away. My own 

 observations have sufficiently informed me that it belongs to a 

 peculiar species, and that therefore it properly ought to be called 

 Tuber, or Lycoperdon, suile. 



§ 5. Origin and Habitat of Truffles. — The circumstances 

 under which truffles are produced, viz. their growth, and the 

 place where they are found, particularly deserve the attention of 

 truffle-hunters and foresters ; in order that they may be able to 

 calculate, from what wood districts, by means of obtaining these 

 astonishing productions, an accessory advantage may be pro- 

 cured. They are met with in mould formed from decayed 

 vegetables, or in the upper stratum of earth which consists 

 chiefly of vegetable soil, in ploughed land, and especially in a 

 sand which is mixed with vegetable mould. A proper degree of 

 shade seems to be essentially requisite to their production, and 

 they are generally met with in thinly planted forests, in which 

 rain and warmth can easily operate upon the ground, as also 

 where there are small groups of trees. They are principally 

 found in thinly planted oak woods, which have either no under- 

 wood, or at the most, only thorn bushes that are quite stunted, 

 or other single bushes. They are also found in thinly planted 

 pole woods of different kinds of trees, of from forty to sixty 

 years' growth, which contain timber trees of oak and beech ; 

 thirdly, also in districts which are covered with pollards of horn- 

 beam, elms, maples, &c., along with which there are a few 

 bushes. They are always most abundant under oak trees, as it 

 has been long ago observed. They there generally lie near to 

 the stem, amongst the roots, but sometimes at a distance from 

 them. They grow in the woods near the Rhine, and almost as 



