32 
THE PRINCIPLES OP BOTANY. 
have often done, we have marked down a specimen, over 
three pounds in weight, it has served us for several feasts, as 
it has afforded us an opportunity of taking off slices day by 
day for a most delicious repast.* 
Cooke says of it, “Very few persons are, however, aware 
that when in its young and pulpy condition this Lycoperdon 
is excellent eating, and, indeed, has few competitors for the 
place of honour at the table. 
It is especially esteemed in Italy, and should be with us, 
not only on account of the impossibility of confounding it 
with other species, on which account the repast may be 
enjoyed without fear, but also for its own intrinsic value.” 
Mrs. Hussey (no mean authority on this subject) recom- 
mends that each slice be dipped in the yolk of an egg, and 
sprinkled with chopped sweet herbs and spice. “Then,” 
she says, “ they are much lighter and more digestible than 
omelettes, and resemble brain fritters.” 
We prefer them simply sliced, and covered with egg and 
bread crumb, and fried, like a veal cutlet, in which state the 
flavour is, indeed, most delicate, and the substance so tender 
that it “melts in the mouth.” 
5. The Truffle was, perhaps, the most anciently known as 
an edible and flavouring substance of all the fungi. They 
occur as warty-looking nodules, amid decaying leaves, in 
beech and oak woods, just beneath the surface of the soil. 
The chief supplies for the tables of the rich are obtained 
from the Continent, but our own woods afford them in occa- 
sional profusion. We are informed that in parts of Hamp- 
shire truffle dogs, i. e. dogs trained to hunt truffles, are still 
to be met with about the New Forest. Kromholz, according 
to Cooke, gives the following instruction for the benefit of 
those who would undertake the search : 
“ You must have a sow, of five months old, a good walker, 
with her mouth strapped up, and for her efforts recompense 
her with acorns ; but as pigs are not easily led, are stubborn, 
and go astray, and dig after a thousand other things, there 
is but little to be done with them. Dogs are better; of 
these select a small poodle.” 
We have been told that formerly dogs were kept to hunt 
truffles in Oakley Park, Cirencester, where we have found 
* Since writing the above we have met with the following note : — 
Vittadini recommends, wherever this fungus grows conveniently for the 
purpose, that it should not be all taken at once, but by slices cut off from 
the living plant, care being taken not to break up its attachments with the 
earth; in this way, he says, you may have a fine “frittura” every day for a 
week. 
