TRUFFLES. 1 69 



were placed in winter, either whole or in fragments, 

 and that after the lapse of some time small truffles 

 were found in the compost. The most successful plan 

 consisted in sowing acorns over a considerable extent 

 of land of a calcareous nature, and when the young 

 oaks had attained the age of ten or twelve years, 

 truffles were found in the intervals between the trees. 

 This process was carried on in the neighbourhood of 

 Loudun, where truffle beds had formerly existed, but 

 where they had long ceased to be productive. In 

 this case no attempt was made to produce truffles by 

 placing ripe specimens in the earth, but they sprang 

 up of themselves, from spores probably contained in 

 the soil. The young trees were left rather wide apart 

 and were cut for the first time about the twelfth year 

 from the sowing, and afterwards at intervals of from 

 seven to nine years. Truffles were thus obtained for 

 a period of from twenty-five to thirty years, after 

 which the plantations ceased to be productive, owing, 

 it was said, to the ground being too much shaded by 

 the branches of the young trees, a remedy for which 

 might have been found by thinning out the trees ; 

 but this would not be adopted till all the barren tracts 

 had been planted. 



The Messrs Tulasne think that truffle cultivation in 

 gardens can never be so successful as this so called 

 indirect culture, but they think that a satisfactory 

 result might be obtained in suitable soils by planting 

 fragments of mature truffles in wooded localities, 



