A G A 
length gave occafion to their reformation; but, notwith- 
Itanding this precaution, the abufes committed occafioned 
their abolition at tlie council of Carthage, in the year 397. 
AGAPET^E, in ecclefiaftical hiftory, a name given to 
certain virgins and widows, who, in the ancient church, 
affociated themfelves with, and attended on, eccleliaftics, 
out of a motive of piety and charity.—In thole days, wo¬ 
men were inftituted Deaconesses; and, in the fervour 
of the primitive piety, there was nothing fcan.dalous in 
luch focieties; but they afterwards degenerated into liber- 
tinifm, and were at length fuppreffed. 
AGARD (Arthur),a learned Englifh antiquarian, born 
at Tofton in Derbylhire in the year 1540. His fondnefs 
for Englifh antiquities induced him to make many large 
collections; and his office as deputy chamberlain of the 
exchequer, which he held forty-five years, gave him great 
Opportunities of acquiring fkill in that ftudy. Similarity 
of tafte brought him acquainted with Sir Robert Cotton, 
and other learned men, who affociated themfelves under 
the name of The Society of Antiquarians, of which fooicty 
Mr. Agard was a confpicuous member. He made the 
doomfday-book his peculiar ftudy; and compofed a work 
purpofely to explain it, under the title of Tra&atus de 
ufu cl obfeurioribus veibis lib ride Domefday ; he alfo compiled 
a book for the fervice of his fucceflbrs, which he depofited 
with the keepers of the king’s receipt, as a proper index 
for fucceeding officers. All the reft of his collections, 
containing at lead twenty volumes, he bequeathed to Sir 
Robert Cotton ; and died in 1615. 
AGARIC,/! [ agaricum , Lat,] A drug of ufe in phy- 
fic, and the dying trade. It is divided into male and fe¬ 
male; the male is 11 fed only in dying, the female in medi¬ 
cine : the male grows on oaks, the female on larches.— 
There are two excrefcences which grow upon trees, both 
of them in the nature of mufhrooms; the one the Romans 
call boletus, which groweill upon the roots of oaks, and 
was one of the dainties of their table; the other is medici¬ 
nal, that is called agaric, which greweth upon the tops 
of oaks; though it be affirmed by fome, that it groweth 
alfo at the roots. Bacon. 
AGARICUS, f. \_Aga>-ia, a city of Sarmatia.] In bo¬ 
tany, a genus of the cryptpgamia fungi. The generic cha¬ 
racters are-^-Pileus or cap with gills underneath. Gills: 
differing in fubftance from the reft of the plant, compofed 
of two laminas. Seeds : in the gills. 
Species. In the thirteenth edition of Linnmus’s Syftema 
Vegetabilium, we have no more than tvventy-feven fpe- 
cies of agaricus. I11 the fourteenth by Murray there are 
only thirty-five. Micheli on the contrary lias given 634. 
In the third edition of Ray’s Synopfis are fifty-feven fpe- 
cies, fourteen of whichare added by Dillenius. Gieditfch 
reduces the agarici to thirty-two fpecies, but informs us 
that there are 120 more, involved in much obfeurity. 
Haller deferibes 134; and Scopoli 114, of which eleven 
only have Linnaeus’s names. Mr. Hudfon enumerates 
forty-fix; and Mr. I.ightfobt accurately deferibes twenty, 
in his Flora Scotica. Allione enumerates eighty-two. 
But in the third part of Dr. Withering’s Botanical Ar¬ 
rangement, the number of, Britifh fpecies afeertained and 
deferibed amounts to 213. Out of all thefe, one only has 
been (elected for cultivation in our gardens ; namely : 
Agaricus campeftris, the common mufhroom, or cham¬ 
pignon, which is thus deferibed : gills crowded, irregu¬ 
lar, pink changing to liver-colour ; cap convex, white to 
brown; ftera white, cylindrical; curtain white. This 
fpecies is efieemed the bed and moil favoury of the genus, 
and is in much requeft for the tabic in England. It is eat¬ 
en frefh either ftewed or broiled; and preferved either as 
a pickle or in powder. The fauee vulgarly called catch¬ 
up is made from its juice with fait and fpices. The wild 
mufhrooms, from frefh undunged paftures, are more deli¬ 
cate than thofe which are railed on artificial beds; the 
flefli of the latter being lefs tender: thofe who are much 
accuftomed to them, can immediately tell the difference'by 
their fmell. Mr. Miller is of a different opinion, proba- 
A G A tgt 
bly becaufe the cultivated ones are more fightly, and may 
be collected in a proper fiate for eating more eafily: they 
are firmer and better for pickling. 
The agaricus georgii of Linnaeus much refembles this, 
but is far inferior to it in flavour, though not poifonous, 
as generally fuppofed. It is very common: the cap turns 
yellow, but the gills are always white. 
The agaricus procerus, or tail mufhroom, whichls com¬ 
mon in woods and dry hilly paflures, is fometimes expofed 
to fale in Covent-garden market. It may be eafily diftin- 
guifiled from the genuine fort by the fponginefs of its 
flefh ; and from all others by its tallnefs, its bulbous bafe, 
it large volva or ruffle, and the flakinefs or fcaly texture 
of its fpongy cap: the gills are numerous, brittle, and 
whitifh. 
Agaricus ccefareus, or imperial agaric, is the mod fplen- 
did of all the fpecies. It is common in Italy, and is 
brought to the markets there for fale. The ancient Ro¬ 
mans efieemed it one of the greatefl luxuries of the table. 
Having been made the vehicle for poifonto Claudius Cue- 
far, by his wife Agrippina, it has been celebrated by Ju¬ 
venal and Martial. It was firft found wild in this coun¬ 
try in Red-Rock plantation, Edgbafion, by Dr. Wither¬ 
ing’s daughter, on the fixth of July, 1791. 
Agaricus orcades of Bolton and Withering is very dif¬ 
ferent from all thefe. It is a fmall pale brown, or ra¬ 
ther buff-coloured, mufhroom, very common in dry paf¬ 
tures, particularly in the fairy rings. It is alfo found in 
woods and hedges ; but in fuchfituations the flavour is in¬ 
ferior. Thofe from dry paftures have a very pleafant 
fmell, and a mod lufeious flavour, either ftewed alone, or 
in ragouts, haflies, See. I have eaten them in great quan¬ 
tities, above forty years, without the lead injury, nor did 
I ever perceive any thing of that toughnefs like leather, 
which is fo much complained of, except in very dry wea¬ 
ther, or when they are in too advanced a fiate: they 
fitouId be gathered young, early in a morning, and there 
is fome nicety in drefling them. This fort makes excel¬ 
lent catchup, and is admirable in the form of powder. It 
is in feafoii during September and October, but may be 
dried fo as to be in life for tiie table all the winter. Dr* 
Withering is fatisfied that the circles in pafture fields, cal¬ 
led fairy rings, are caufed by the growth of this agaric. 
Where the ring is brown or almoft bare, upon digging up 
the foil to the depth of two inches, thefpawn of the fun¬ 
gus will be found of a greyifh white colour ; but where the 
grafs has again grown green and rank there is no fpawn. 
Thefe obfervations have been confirmed by my own expe¬ 
rience long fince for many years together. I have fre¬ 
quently remarked the fame ring to increafe in diameter, 
till a part of it has been cut off by a fence of the inclo- 
fure. In many parts of Europe feveral other forts are 
eaten, which we fancy to be poifonous. The nature of 
this work does not require that we Ihould enter more mi¬ 
nutely into the confideration of die.agarics. The bare 
enumeration and defeription of the fpecies contained in 
the clafs cryptogamia, would make a large volume. See 
Fungi. 
Propagation and Culture of Mufhrooms. In order to culti¬ 
vate mufhrooms, if you have no beds in your own or in 
neighbouring gardens, which produce them, you mult 
look abroad in rich paftures, during the months of Au- 
guft and September, that being.the feafon when they are 
naturally produced: open the ground about the roots of 
muilirooms, where you will find the earth very often full of 
fmall white knobs, which are the offsets, or young mufti- 
rooms ; thefe Ihould be carefully gathered, preferving 
them in lumps with the earth about them: but, as this 
fpawn cannot be found in the pafture except at the feafon 
when mufhrooms are naturally produced, you may proba¬ 
bly find fome in old dung-hills, especially where there has 
been much litter among!! it, and the wet lias not pene¬ 
trated to rot it; as likewife in old hat beds; (hooting out 
in long firingst or it may be procured by mixing fome* 
long dung from the (table, which has. not been thrown on 
;r heap 
