254 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



beds, as nearly as possible resembling that 

 in which they are found to exist naturally. 

 Succeeding in this, more artificial means might 

 successfully be adopted afterwards. 



Little has been written on the cultivation of 

 this valuable fungus in Britain. We believe the 

 only works in English that treat on truffle cul- 

 ture are the translations, by Mr Francis Mascall, 

 of M. Alex, de Bornholz's " Treatise on the Cul- 

 tivation of Truffles," and that of Von V. F. Fisher, 

 entitled " Instructions in Truffle-hunting." The 

 essence of both will be found in the 13th volume 

 of the " Gardeners' Magazine," p. 389-408, and 

 is well worth the perusal of the English reader. 

 The observations of Bradley, quoted above, will 

 be found in his " Physical Observations on Gar- 

 dening." No less than eleven treatises on this 

 curious subject have appeared in France and 

 Germany, the best of which is the article Truffle, 

 by Drs Lippold and Funke, in " Lexicon of Na- 

 ture and Art," part 3, and the splendid " History 

 and Monograph of Truffles," by Dr Tulasne, 

 Paris, 1851 ; and the plans proposed for their 

 cultivation by Von Justi and Bulliard are worth 

 consulting. They all agree that a soil should be 

 chosen for the artificial cultivation of this fungi, 

 as similar as possible to that in which truffles 

 grow naturally ; that it should be trenched to 

 the depth of 2 or 3 feet ; and that either pieces 

 of the earth in which truffles grow naturally, 

 or single truffles, fully grown, should be 

 planted in it. Dr Klotzsch of Berlin recom- 

 mends taking such truffles as are over-ripe, and 

 nearly in a state of decomposition, breaking 

 them in pieces, and placing them 2 or 3 inches 

 deep in the soil, " in rather raised flat places," 

 under coppices or underwood, and in a sheltered 

 situation. No one appears to have tried its cul- 

 tivation in a regular mushroom-house, although 

 it at once presents many of the apparent essen- 

 tials sought for by these authorities, under the 

 shade of trees, coppices, &c. ; and we doubt not 

 if those who live in the localities where they 

 naturally abound were to collect the truffles 

 when beginning to decay, at which time their 

 seeds are fully matured, and to transfer them to 

 a bed of earth composed of material similar to 

 that in which they naturally grow, abundance 

 of truffle-spawn would be secured, and might be 

 multiplied as readily as that of the common 

 mushroom ; or why not collect the truffle- spawn, 

 and transfer it to artificial beds, as is often done 

 in the case of the mushroom? The truffle being 

 little known to cultivators generally, the follow- 

 ing description by Mascall, in addition to our 

 fig. 98, may enable them to detect it with cer- 

 tainty : " Of a round form, more or less ap- 

 proaching to that of a sphere, or of an egg, or 

 sometimes kidney-shaped (for they assume all 

 these forms), and somewhat rough with protu- 

 berances. The colour of the surface is, when it 

 is young, whitish, but in those that are full- 

 grown it is either blackish or a deep black. 

 The colour of the inside is whitish, with dark- 

 blue and white, grey, reddish, light-brown, or 

 dark-brown veins, of the thickness of a horse- 

 hair, which are usually variously entangled, and 

 which form a kind of net-work or mat. Between 

 the veins are numerous cavities, filled with a 



great deal of mucilage and small solid grains. 

 These scarcely visible glands were formerly said 

 to be the seeds or germs of the young truffles. 

 The less the inside of the truffle is coloured 

 with dark veins, the more tender and delicious 

 is its flesh. The blackish external rind is hard 

 and very rough, by means of fine fissures, grains, 

 and protuberances, and forms, with its small 

 facets, which are almost hexagonal, an appear- 

 ance by which it somewhat resembles the fir- 

 apples of the larch. Whilst the truffle is young, 

 its smell resembles that of putrid plants, or of 

 moist vegetable earth. When it first approaches 

 the point of time at which it has attained its 

 full growth, it diffuses an agreeable smell, which 

 is peculiar to it, resembling that of musk, which 

 lasts only a few days : it then becomes stronger, 

 and the nearer the fungus is to its dissolution, 

 which speedily ensues, so much the more un- 

 pleasant and urinous is the smell, till at last it 

 is quite disagreeable and putrid. Whilst young, 

 the flesh is watery, and its taste insipid : when 

 fully formed, its firm flesh, which is like the 

 kernel of the almond and the nut, has an ex- 

 tremely aromatic and delicious taste; but as soon 

 as the fungus begins to decay, and worms and 

 putrescence to attack it, its taste is bitter and 

 disagreeable." 



Wherever truffles are produced, they are to 

 be found the whole year through, from the be- 

 ginning of spring till late in autumn, but in the 

 greatest plenty from towards the end of the 

 month of August to the latter end of October. 

 They thrive extremely, like all fungi, in warm 

 moist autumns, and are then most delicious. 

 After warm continuous showers, they are found 

 nearer the surface of the soil, sometimes so high 

 that they form little hemispherical mounds of 

 earth, in which small clefts are produced by the 

 sun's rays. If the soil is loose, and dry weather 

 succeeds, the earth which was raised up falls 

 down, and the truffle is seen half uncovered. 



The favourite habitat of truffles is a somewhat 

 moist, light, wood soil, which is defended from 

 the immediate effect of the burning rays of the 

 sun by large oak trees standing at a distance 

 from each other, but is not deprived, by thick 

 bushes, of the free access of the currents of air. 

 Where, in woods, there are places bare of timber 

 trees, and with but few bushes, or covered with 

 pollard wood that does not stand thick, they 

 thrive under an oak, beech, white thorn, and 

 even under a fruit tree, and sometimes attain 

 the weight of from a pound to a pound and a 

 half. This unusual size, however, is only met 

 with in moist warm grounds; here they lie 

 nearer the surface of the soil. The drier the 

 soil is, the deeper they are produced in it, but 

 are usually so much the smaller: to this the 

 vicinity of springs is the sole exception. 



Truffles vary very much in size, form, and 

 degree of roughness on the surface. Of all va- 

 rieties those of a whitish colour are most highly 

 prized, and hence the Piedmontese is the most 

 in esteem. Truffles, being destitute of roots, 

 draw their nourishment from the soil by absorb- 

 ent vessels which cover their whole surface, and 

 these vessels are in general in the form of small 

 warts ; and therefore the soil which surrounds 



