36 AMERICAN HOMES 
A “ Rabasseur,”” with His Dog, Hunting for Truffles 
tard the growth of the truffles. Cold has a favorable in- 
fluence on the ripening of the precious tuber, which does not 
attain its full flavor until the end of December, or in Jan- 
uary or February. If, however, frost goes deep enough to 
reach the delicate fungi, they die, decay and lose all their 
commercial value. 
Another condition indispensable for the development of 
truffles is the presence of trees. There are some thirty species 
which satisfy the condition more or less perfectly. Oaks 
are the best; then come beeches, hornbeams, chestnuts, hazels, 
junipers, etc. According to Larbaletrier, the benefit derived 
from trees is confined to the shade and shelter which they 
give, so that the species is of secondary importance. Never- 
theless, trufles abound especially at the feet of oaks of 
various species, notably the white and the downy oak. 
To return to demonstrated facts, we find that truffles are 
also subject to limits of altitude. The Périgord truffle, for 
example, is not found at elevations exceeding 800 meters 
(2600. feet or half a mile), either because it can not adapt 
itself to the climate of great altitudes or because the trees 
which it needs do not grow there. 
Truffles are produced in natural and in artificial truffle 
grounds. Natural truffle grounds appear spontaneously, and 
human care is confined to gathering the crop and sparing 
the sheltering oaks. A very curious fact has been observed 
in this connection, namely, that truffles are never found 
around very young trees. Long before the tubers develop, 
‘C capormene 
Radiograph of Truffles Loaded with Lead, Iron, Clay, etc., to 
Increase the Weight. A Nail Shows Clearly in the 
Middle Truffle of the Bottom Row 
AND GARDENS January, 1906 
the site of the future truffle ground has revealed itself to ex- 
perienced eyes. ‘The shrubs, herbs and grasses have faded, 
withered and finally vanished, leaving the place bare and 
‘‘burned,”’ to use the local term. ‘Then the truffles appear 
and the surface of the ground remains bare and barren until 
the truffle bed has been exhausted, after which the place again 
becomes covered with verdure. 
Artificial truffle grounds were unimagined until the begin- 
ning of the nineteenth century. Until 1898 they were made 
by the simple process of sowing acorns broadcast on favor- 
able soil after deep plowing. Another method consisted in 
planting truffles two or three years old. A little earth taken 
from an old and bearing truffle ground was sometimes strewn 
over the new one. 
In consequence of the discovery by M. Gramont de Les- 
parre of the productive principle of the truffle mycelium, a 
more rational method of propagation has lately been adopt- 
ed. The spore of the truffle does not germinate either within 
the fungus or in the ground. It must be carried, by the 
wind or otherwise, to the leaf of a tree—oak, hazel, beech 
or pine, for example—to which it attaches itself by means 
of its spines, and promptly sprouts if it has found lodg- 
ment near the midrib of the leaf. “The male spore produces 
a filament which grows and runs under the epidermis of the 
leaf until it meets and fertilizes a female spore. ‘Then the 
latter emits sporules, which, falling to the ground, develop 
into the truffle mycelium, or “spawn.” 
““Caveur,”” with Sow, Hunting for Truffles 
On the basis of these discoveries truffle growers now pro- 
ceed as follows. During the winter they select very ripe and 
round Périgord truffles, untouched by frost, and dry them 
rapidly in the open air. ‘The dry, hard tubers are subse- 
quently softened by soaking in water, chopped and crushed 
between two pieces of ground glass, one of which is caused 
to glide over the other in such manner as to reduce the truffle 
pulp to a stiff paste, which is thinned by the addition of a 
little water. ‘The object of this process is to break the little 
sacks, or “‘thece,’’ which contain the spores, for the latter 
can not develop until they have been released from their en- 
velopes. Then, to start the germination, it is only necessary 
to apply the thin paste with a soft brush to the midrib of a 
green leaf in the shade and to keep it undisturbed for from 
six to twelve weeks, according as the operation has been per- 
formed in May or in autumn. After the expiration of this 
period the treated leaves are gathered and buried in the 
ground prepared for their reception. 
In fact, science has confirmed, by explanation, the essential 
truth of the popular belief. Though the tree is not actually 
the parent of the truffle, its presence is indispensable to the 
truffle’s propagation, so that the popular saying, “If you 
want truffles, plant oaks,’’ remains correct in substance. The 
common sense of our fathers foresaw what only the micro- 
scope can see in detail. 
Now, how shall we go about to discover the whereabouts 
of truffles buried six or eight inches underground? 
