EDIBLE FUNGI. — ' 



THE MUSHROOM. 



245 



common mushroom, and is quite as delicate ; it 

 abounds in seasons when these are not to be 

 found." 



Boletus scaler (Fries.) — Found in similar situa- 

 tions to the last, but should be used in a fresh 

 state, for when dried it loses much of its odour, 

 and is both insipid and unfit for use. 



Cantharellus cibarius (Fries.) — Found during 

 summer in great abundance, and continuing, 

 although in less numbers, till towards autumn. 

 It appears to be local in its habitats ; the neigh- 

 bourhood of Chelmsford, in Essex, about Tun- 

 bridge Hills, and amongst moss under beech- 

 trees in Burkhurst Park, are particularly famed 

 for this highly-prized fungus : from these places 

 the London demand is chiefly supplied. 



Hydnum repandum (L.) — Found in woods, par- 

 ticularly those of oak or pine ; sometimes grega- 

 rious, or in rings, at other times solitary. 



Fistulina hepatica (Bull.) — Grows upon old 

 oak and chestnut trees, appearing throughout 

 the summer often in great abundance, varying in 

 size and shape, often, when fully grown, measur- 

 ing 5 feet in circumference. Shoeffer designates 

 this " fungus pauperibus esculentus," or poor 

 man's fungus, because it is a great acquisition to 

 the poor where it grows in plenty. 



Helvetia lacunosa (Afy.), and //. crispa (Fries.) 

 — Found in woods, not unfrequently growing on 

 the stumps of old trees ; in flavour somewhat 

 resembling the morel, for which they are some- 

 times substituted. 



Clavaria coralloides (L.), C. grisea; C. cristata 

 (Pers.); C.rugosa (Bull.), are all esculent funguses 

 indigenous to our woods and damp shady places. 



Lycopordon plumbeum (Badham) ; L. Bovista 

 (Pers).— Both are common, during summer and 

 autumn, in dry exposed pastures, sometimes 

 growing solitary, but for the most part in groups, 

 and are known by the name of puff-balls ; five 

 species are recorded as natives of Britain, and 

 all are found wholesome to eat. 



The above enumeration of esculent funguses 

 is given chiefly upon the authority of Dr Bad- 

 ham, whose excellent work, " Esculent Funguses 

 of England," with coloured figures, should be 

 perused by every gardener. M. Eoques, Paulet, 

 Persoon, and Cordier, have published excellent 

 treatises on the kinds fit for human food, as 

 used in France, and the no less valuable work 

 by Vittadini gives the kinds in general use in 

 Italy. The testimony of such authorities should 

 shake the prevailing prejudices existing in Britain 

 against a more general use of this valuable tribe 

 of plants. 



Much of the effects produced by indulging in 

 the use of mushrooms has arisen from the place 

 in which they have been produced, as it is a 

 well-known fact in Covent Garden, that mush- 

 rooms gathered from the open fields, or even 

 grown artificially in gardens, on open beds, are 

 preferred to such as are produced in dark ill- 

 ventilated cellars. That mushrooms, when too 

 old, and beginning to decay, become chemically 

 changed, and may produce less agreeable sensa- 

 tions, is not to be questioned ; but this in nowise 

 affects the fact of their being as wholesome a 

 diet as any other vegetable production used in 

 its proper state. Steeping mushrooms in brine 

 VOL. II. 



or acetic acid, before cooking, robs them of 

 whatever deleterious principles they may pos- 

 sess. The residue left is pure fungine, which 

 is perfectly innocuous, and the subsequent pro- 

 cess of cooking renders them easy of digestion. 

 Spirits of wine and vinegar extract some part 

 of the deleterious properties, and tannin decom- 

 poses the greatest part of it. 



Cultivation. — The Agaricus campestris, or com- 

 mon mushroom, is the only species that has as 

 yet been subjected to successful cultivation, 

 although there can be little doubt that all or 

 most of the terrestrial-growing sorts would sub- 

 mit to the same process, if their natural habitats 

 were sufficiently studied, and their spawn col- 

 lected and propagated. In this way the common 

 mushroom was first brought under the control 

 of man. The morel is said to have been occa- 

 sionally cultivated, and Lightfoot asserts that he 

 succeeded in producing it from seed. The truffle 

 has been cultivated in Germany and Italy to a 

 limited extent, an account of which will be found 

 in the " Gardeners' Magazine," vol. i. p. 320, and 

 vol. x. Of the conditions necessary to the suc- 

 cessful cultivation of fungi, little that is satisfac- 

 tory is known. Moderate heat and moisture 

 seem to be the principal agents that excite the 

 seeds, in the first instance, and bring the plants to 

 a state of perfection afterwards. Some species, 

 however, are produced in a very low temperature, 

 but none without the necessary amount of hu- 

 midity. That all funguses are originated from 

 seed is incontrovertible. These seeds are called 

 spores, and are quite invisible to the naked eye ; 

 indeed, under an ordinary microscope, they ap- 

 pear as mere particles of dust ; nor is it until we 

 employ magnifiers of very great power that 

 either their colours or shapes can be determined. 

 The seeds of all cryptogamic plants are pro- 

 duced in enormous numbers, compared with 

 those of phanogamous ones ; many, however, of 

 them are abortive, and probably a greater num- 

 ber never reach a proper nidus on which they 

 can establish themselves. The seed of the com- 

 mon mushroom, in falling from the gills when 

 ripe, is no doubt wafted by the wind, and be- 

 comes attached to the stems, leaves, &c. of 

 grasses and other herbage, and, notwithstand- 

 ing their being taken up by such animals as the 

 horse, the deer, and the sheep, pass through 

 their intestines without undergoing any material 

 change in their vegetative existence ; and hence, 

 in the dung of these animals, when placed toge- 

 ther, and kept moderately dry, and brought to 

 a slight state of fermentation, we discover the 

 first stage of existence of the future brood of 

 mushrooms. This is practically called spawn, 

 and consists of a white fibrous substance, run- 

 ning like broken threads through the mass of 

 dung, which appears to be its only and proper 

 nidus. The successive development of the seeds 

 or spores is thus described by Dr Badham : 

 " When the spore ceases to be a spore, and to 

 become a mushroom, the first thing it does is to 

 send forth certain cotton-like filaments, whose 

 interlacings entangle it completely, while they 

 also serve to attach it to the place of its birth. 

 These threads (like the spongioles attached to the 

 roots of phanogamous plants) absorb, and bring 



2 i 



