C. E. BEOOME — TRUFFLES AND TETrFFLE-CTJLTUBE. 21 



that these plantations continue productive for a period of from 

 ten to fifteen years, after which they cease to be so. It has been 

 observed that the species most available for culinary purposes 

 with us is Tuber cestivum, a species considered in France as of far 

 less value than T. melanosporum and T. brumale ; and it might be 

 worth while to obtain well-matured specimens of these species 

 from Trance, and distribute them while quite fresh in some 

 locality producing our indigenous kinds, to ascertain if we could 

 not thus obtain a superior race of Truffles. Tuber cestivum is 

 commonly worth about half-a-crown per 1 lb. in Covent Garden, 

 whilst in Italy Tuber magnatum fetches from fifteen to seventeen 

 francs, and T. melanosporum almost as much. Should horticul- 

 turists be tempted to try their skill in the artificial production of 

 these Fungi, they should bear in mind the conditions most suitable 

 to their nature as above recorded. They might succeed, for in- 

 stance, in producing them in filbert-plantations or in gardens 

 thickly set with fruit-trees ; and they should plant mature speci- 

 mens in well-trenched ground on a calcareous substratum, and be 

 careful not to stir the soil to any depth till the autumn or winter 

 of the following year, in order not to disturb the mycelium ; and 

 it would be well perhaps, in case they find a successful result, not 

 to take too largely of the crop the first year or two, but to give 

 them time to establish themselves thoroughly in the locality. It 

 would seem, however, that, when once established, deep stirrings of 

 the soil would tend rather to encourage than to check their in- 

 crease, as giving the mycelium a lighter soil in which to vegetate, 

 and preventing the growth of roots of surrounding trees, &c, 

 which might deprive the Truffles of the requisite nutriment. 



It might be as well to try the growth of Tuber macrosporum, as 

 it is an indigenous species, and might become a source of profit, 

 notwithstanding its garlic odour. Those who possess woods or 

 plantations of beech in calcareous soils, which are not already 

 productive of Truffles, might succeed perhaps in rendering them 

 so, by trenching patches of ground beneath the trees, so as to clear 

 away the brushwood, grass, and roots for a considerable space, 

 and planting ripe Truffles in the trenched spaces, and then allow- 

 ing time for them to produce their mycelium. And when the 

 roots of surrounding trees again encroach on the selected spots, 

 they might be checked by deep digging around their margins. 



