EDIBLE FUNGI.— THE TRUFFLE. 



253 



THE TRUFFLE. 



§ 3. — THE TRUFFLE. 



The truffle (Tuber cibarium, common truffle, 

 Sibthorp, fig. 98 ; and Tuber albidum, white truffle, 



Cses.) belongs 

 to the same 

 class and order 

 as the last, 

 and, like it, 

 is exceedingly 

 prized in the 

 higher depart- 

 ments of cook- 

 ery. They are 

 indigenous to 

 Britain, being 

 found growing 

 subterraneous- 

 ly in the southern parts of England. The supply 

 for the market is obtained from the truffle- 

 hunters, who teach dogs to scent them out, 

 which they do with great sagacity, either point- 

 ing to the spot, or scratching the ground over 

 where they are growing, when the truffle-hunter 

 digs them up with a spade, rewarding his com- 

 panion with a small piece of cheese. The truffle 

 is of very irregular form, inclining to globular, 

 without root or stem. The first-named va- 

 riety (Tuber cibarium) is of a dirty black colour, 

 the second (Tuber albidum) inclining to white, 

 and both are very uneven and rough on the 

 surface. Besides these, there are imported Tu- 

 ber magnatum, the Piedmontese truffle, and 

 Tuber brochii, from Italy. The following British 

 fungi are often substituted for the true truffle, 

 viz. Hydrobo/ites tulasnei, found in Spyke Park, 

 Wilts, and Melagonaster broomeianus, or red 

 truffle, found in the neighbourhood of Bath. The 

 truffle has never been satisfactorily produced 

 artificially in Britain, though Bradley, writing in 

 1726, speaks of its cultivation as an easy matter. 

 The Prussian gardeners have, however, grown it 

 to some extent, and the Comte de Broch has 

 done the same in Italy. The sort grown by de 

 Broch is the Tuber magnatum, or Piedmontese 

 truffle, and his modus operandi is as follows: 

 In preparing an artificial soil he employs seven 

 parts of garden-soil, two of well-pulverised clayey 

 soil, and one of oak sawdust, thoroughly incor- 

 porated together. He also employs the soil 

 where the truffle grows naturally, and this he 

 trenches to the depth of 2 feet, picking out all 

 the large stones, and adding oak sawdust, if 

 necessary, and about one-tenth powdered shells 

 if the soil is too stiff, for the truffle affects a 

 calcareous soil. In preparing his bed, he selects 

 a situation having a northern exposure, and 

 thoroughly soaks his prepared compost with 

 rain-water. After a day or two, when the bed 

 is in a proper state of moisture, he makes holes 

 6 inches apai't in it, in each of which he plants 

 sound and good truffles, surrounding each with 

 two or three handfuls of oak sawdust, covering 

 the rows with a sufficiency of soil to prevent the 

 truffles from being exposed to too much mois- 

 ture. In this state the bed is left till the fol- 

 lowing autumn, keeping it in a state neither 

 too wet nor . too dry. The truffles began to ap- 

 pear in October, and continued producing till 

 VOL. II. 



January. From the Comte's practice little prac- 

 tical information can be drawn, further than that 

 truffles were planted in a situation and in a 

 medium favourable for the seed which was con- 

 tained in the planted tubers vegetating at its 

 natural season— a circumstance we think more 

 simply accomplished, and with probably as much 

 success, by the peasant truffle-hunter in our own 

 country, who deposits again in the soil all very 

 small and decaying truffles, unfit for market, in 

 the spot from whence he dug them, or trans- 

 plants them to situations where none grew 

 before, choosing, however, a similar soil, and in 

 general under shadow of a tree of the same spe- 

 cies under w T hich they are usually found. The 

 oak and the beech appear to be the most favour- 

 able for the purpose. This would lead us to 

 conclude that the truffle prefers a rather dry 

 locality. Bradley's recommendation is, " that 

 the truffle may be easily cultivated where there 

 are woods or coppices of oak or hazel, and where 

 the soil is not too stiff, or inclining to chalk. 

 The soil where they are most found is a reddish 

 sandy loam ; this, then, will be the best for our 

 purpose, especially if it has lain long unculti- 

 vated. The soil should remain undisturbed till 

 the months of October, November, or December, 

 which is the proper season for planting, if the 

 weather be open, for then the truffles are to be 

 found in their full ripening ; and then, likewise, 

 one may find them in a state of putrefaction, 

 which is the time when the seeds are prepared 

 for vegetation. It is in the last state that we 

 ought to gather truffles for planting, or at least 

 they should be in perfect ripeness." He pro- 

 ceeds to plant as follows : " Open a spot of 

 ground, of a convenient space, and take out the 

 earth about 8 inches deep, and screen it, that it 

 may be as fine as possible ; then lay about 2 or 

 3 inches thick of this fine earth at the bottom 

 of the trench, and upon it lay some of the over- 

 ripe truffles, about a foot and a half distance 

 from one another ; and as soon as possible pre- 

 pare a thin mud, made of the screened earth 

 and water, well stirred and mixed together, and 

 pour it on the truffles till the open ground is 

 quite filled up. By this means, in a few r hours, 

 the ground will be as closely settled about the 

 truffles as if it had never been dug or disturbed 

 at all, and you may expect a good crop in due 

 time. You must, however, take care to choose 

 your spots of ground in woods or coppices, or 

 such places as are shaded with trees." As re- 

 gards information on the culture of the truffle, 

 we are in much the same state as were our fore- 

 fathers ages ago, when it was gravely recom- 

 mended to them by some of our earliest autho- 

 rities, to collect the young mushrooms wherever 

 they were found growing naturally, and, on 

 taking them up, to transplant them on dung- 

 beds in their gardens; or, as others recom- 

 mended, to take full-grown mushrooms, and 

 break them down in water, and water the 

 beds with the infusion. To succeed in the cul- 

 ture of the morel or truffle, we should assur- 

 edly follow the course practised with the com- 

 mon mushroom, namely, secure and increase 

 a supply of seed, preserve it in shape of spawn, 

 and transplant it, in that state, into prepared 



2 K 



