20 



EOTAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



called " galluches," had been planted. The brushwood, by being 

 thus thinned out, would be converted into timber-trees, and the 

 Truffle-grounds rendered permanent, like those of Poitou, which 

 are commonly situated under the shade of lofty trees. It is the 

 opinion of the Messrs. Tulasne that the regular cultivation of 

 Truffles in gardens can never be so successful as this so-called 

 indirect culture at Loudun, &c. ; but they think that a satisfac- 

 tory result might be obtained in suitable soils by planting frag- 

 ments of mature Truffles in wooded localities, taking care that the 

 other conditions of the spots selected should be analogous to 

 those of the regular Truffle-grounds ; and they recommend a judi- 

 cious thinning of the trees, and clearing the surface from brush- 

 wood, &c, which prevents at once the beneficial effects of rain 

 and of the direct sun-rays. It is added that this species of in- 

 dustry has added much to the value of certain districts of Loudun 

 and Civray, which were previously comparatively worthless, and 

 has enriched many of the proprietors, who now make periodical 

 sowings of acorns, thus bringing in a certain portion of wood as 

 Truffle-grounds each year. At Bonardeline, for instance, the 

 annual return from Truffles in a plantation of less than half an 

 acre was from £4 to £5. Another case is adduced in the Arron- 

 dissement of Apt, where several proprietors have made planta- 

 tions : the trees are left about 5 or 6 yards apart ; and so soon as 

 their branches meet and shade the ground too much, they are 

 thinned out. 



The districts of England especially suited to produce Truffles 

 would thus appear to be situated on the great band of calcareous 

 beds which run diagonally across the island from the south-eastern 

 corner of Devonshire to the mouth of the "Wash in Norfolk, 

 occupying all the country that lies to the south-east of such a 

 line, including the counties of Somerset, Dorset, Wilts, Glou- 

 cester, Hampshire, Berkshire, Kent, Hertfordshire, and parts of 

 Northampton, Norfolk, and Lincoln ; and it is to the proprietors 

 of lands in those districts that we must look for any successful 

 attempts to cultivate these Fungi. 



A great proportion of the Truffles exposed for sale in Covent 

 Garden comes from Wiltshire and Hampshire, and the opinions 

 of those who make it their business to collect them coincide com- 

 pletely with those of Messrs. Tulasne cited above. I have been 

 informed by one of these men, that whenever a plantation of 

 beech, or beech and fir, is made on the chalk districts of Salisbury 

 Plain, after the lapse of a few years Truffles are produced ; and 



