72 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 



the returns were larger fro.m land of a better character, for 

 what we want in this country is to learn how land too 

 broken and too poor for tillage can be made to earn per- 

 manently and regularly a fair interest on its value through 

 the application of the laws which govern the art of forestry. 

 Such a lesson the country will soon be able to learn 

 from the Biltmore forest, which, if it is supplemented as it 

 is now proposed, by a great arboretum in which are to be 

 gathered all the woody plants of the temperate regions of 

 the world, and by a series of small special plantations of 

 various trees, native and foreign, made for the purpose of 

 testing their value for forest-planting on a larger scale, will 

 form a museum of remarkable comprehensiveness and inter- 

 est ; and Mr. Vanderbilt will have performed a service to his 

 country of the highest practical value in furnishing oppor- 

 tunities for study which will be of untold value in the 

 future to the scientific forester, the landscape-gardener and 

 the dendrolog-ist, and throufrh them to the nation. 



Notes for Mushroom-eaters. — V. 



TUBE-BEARING FUNGI. 



WE may now leave the gill-bearing fungi and pass to 

 those where the under side of the pileus is formed, not 

 of radiating gills, but a series of narrow tubes packed closely 

 together (see Figs. 13 and 14). The mouths of the tubes can 

 usually be recognized with the naked eye, but in some cases 

 they are so small that one needs a hand lens to see them 

 clearly. This group, the Polyporiea\ includes many species, 

 but not as many as the group of gill-bearing fungi, and the 

 edible species are comparatively few, for many of the spe- 

 cies are hard or corky. As common illustrations of fungi 

 of this group, we may mention the large forms growing on 

 trees, which are used by ladies for making brackets and 

 vegetable cameos, and the common hemispherical or disk- 

 like species which abounds on Birch-trees. To the fungus- 

 eater such hard and corky species have, of course, no value. 

 By far the greater part of the fleshy, succulent, toadstool- 

 shaped fungi of the present group belong to the genus 

 Boletus, a very dangerous genus on the whole. The species 

 of Boletus abound in woods and fields during the summer 

 and autumn, and sometimes attain a great size. Unfortu- 



Ft£. 13. — Boletus subtomentosus. 



nately, the recognition of the different species is a difficult 

 matter, even for experts, and, since many of the species are 

 dangerous, the beginner should be especially cautious. No 

 species of Boletus is probably as poisonous as the Agaricus 

 phalloides, described above, but serious accidents have 

 happened in this country to persons who have experi- 



mented with Boleti. It is out of the question that we should 

 enter upon a detailed description of the different species. 

 We can only mention the general characters found in the 

 dangerous Boleti. In some species, when the fungus is cut 

 or broken, the flesh changes color, becoming usually blue, 

 and sometimes reddish. In some cases merely handlingthe 



— Section of Boletus subtomentosus. 



fungi brings out the blue color, in others the change takes 

 place slowly. As yet, no satisfactory explanation of 

 the change of color has been given, but, whatever 

 the cause, the change is not permanent. In selecting 

 Boleti we may lay down the rule : avoid all those in which 

 the flesh changes color on exposure to the air or on pres- 

 sure. Again, one should notice the color of the tubes and 

 of their mouths. The species which have red-mouthed 

 tubes, or where the mouth is of a much deeper color than 

 the rest of the tube, are also to be avoided. A few Boleti 

 have a peppery or acrid taste, like certain of the Russulee 

 and Lactarii mentioned above, and it is the part of prudence 

 to avoid them. Excluding the species which have an acrid 

 taste, those in which there are red-mouthed tubes and those 

 in which the flesh changes color, there is still left a good 

 many species, but, even then, one should experiment cau- 

 tiously, although the danger is not great. 



Certain species of Boletus are among the best of fungi, and 

 their large size makes them very desirable. The Cepe, Boletus 

 edulis, is imported into this country from France, principally 

 from Bordeaux, although, according to Gautier, the species is 

 not one whose sale is authorized in the Paris market. It is also 

 common in a good many places in this country, especially 

 m stony places near the borders of woods ; but it is far 

 from easy to describe it so that a beginner can always 

 distinguish it from other species. The pileus is convex, 

 from purple-brown to yellow-brown, or even paler, smooth, 

 thick and fleshy ; the flesh white and unchangeable ; .under 

 surface convex and grooved around the top of stipe ; 

 tubes as much as an inch long, at first white, but becom- 

 ing yellow and then greenish ; stipe rather stout andoften 

 bulbous at base, paler than the pileus, having at the top 

 a slightly reticulated surface. If all the above marks are 

 present there can be no trouble in recognizing the Cepe, but 

 it must be admitted that the description is rather long to be 

 recollected without an effort. The imported Cepes are 

 gathered growing wild, and not cultivated in beds like the 

 Mushroom, and hence one must necessarily be a little sus- 

 picious of those sold in our market. When well-cooked 

 the Cepe is delicate and easily digested, but when pre- 

 pared, as it generally is, a la Bordelaise, it may cause gas- 

 tric irritation, which might lead one to suppose that the 

 species was poisonous. 



In this connection should be mentioned the Beefsteak 

 fungus, Fistulina hepatica, common in the south, but less 

 common in the north, although it is sometimes found there 



