C. E. BROOME — TRUFFLES AND TRUFFLE CULTURE. 



15 



with my project as mechanically successful, and must leave its 

 horticultural merits to be decided by more competent authorities. 



If it is desirable to protect the warm border from frost, frames 

 made after the annexed plan, 7 feet by 5 J, and covered with 



asphalted felt, are cheap, and have been found effectual. They 

 are very light, and easily removed when dry. The legs are made 

 of f -inch board, cut diagonally, as in the sketch. 



III. Note on Truffles and Truffle Culture. 

 By C. E. Broome, Esq. 



The numerous varieties of Eungi that are exposed for sale in the 

 markets of Erance and Italy must induce a feeling of surprise 

 that so little attention has been paid to their culture by the 

 horticulturists both of Great Britain and the Continent. The 

 Mushroom is the only species at all commonly made use of in 

 this country; the Blewitt may sometimes, indeed, be seen in 

 Co vent Garden, but it is a species far inferior in flavour to many 

 others of our Eungi, and it is certainly not the produce of our 

 gardens. Truffles, which are frequently seen, and so highly 

 esteemed in Continental markets as to command a high price, are 

 comparatively rarely to be met with in our own, and even Covent 

 Garden can boast but of one native kind, and that an inferior 

 one, viz. Tuber csstivum. There are, however, various reasons for 

 this neglect of Nature's benefits that operate with us, that do not 

 apply with equal force to our Continental neighbours, such as 

 distressing cases of poisoning from the indiscriminate use of 

 Eungi gathered by persons ignorant of the qualities of the various 

 species, a danger in great measure guarded against abroad by the 



