Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
December,  1896.  / 
Mushrooms  and  Fungi. 
657 
suddenly  occurred  in  one's  mouth.  All  mycologists  give  it  a  bad 
reputation,  and  name  it  among  the  deadly  poisonous  fungi.  I  have 
had  more  pen-fights  over  it  than  a  few.  I  have  eaten  it  dozens  of 
times,  and  have  fed  my  family  on  it  without  other  than  pleasant 
results.  It  loses  its  fiery  qualities  on  cooking,  and,  though  a  coarse 
species,  is  much  more  tender  and  quite  as  savory  as  many  of  the 
vegetables  we  eat.  They,  together  with  many  other  toadstools,  are 
found  in  such  plenty  that  they  become  an  easily  gathered  and  valu- 
able fertilizer.  Containing,  as  they  do,  a  large  amount  of  nitrogen- 
ous matter,  the  gathering  of  them  is  worth  the  attention  of  agricul- 
turists and  horticulturists. 
By  far  the  most  numerous  sub-genera  of  the  Agaricini  is  the  Rus- 
sula,  meaning  reddish.  They  are  the  peasants  among  toadstools, 
and  dot  the  ground  thickly,  from  early  spring  to  Autumn,  wherever 
leaf-mould  or  shaded  sod  affords  their  beloved  habitat.  Standing 
on  their  single  stem — thin,  thick  or  corpulent,  with  tops  of  many 
hues  and  shapes,  gills  straight,  even  and  brittle — they  are  the  most 
independent  and  sturdy  of  fungoid  growth.  Most  of  them  are  sweet 
and  nutty  to  the  taste  ;  some  are  hot  as  the  fieriest  of  Cayenne,  but 
this  they  lose  upon  cooking.  '  To  this  genus  •  authors  have  done 
especial  injustice ;  there  is  not  a  single  poisonous  species  among 
them,  and,  where  they  are  not  too  strong  of  annisette  and  other 
highly  flavored  spices,  they  are  all  edible ;  most  of  them  are  among 
my  favorites.  Where  they  present  no  objectionable  appearance  or 
taste,  their  caps  make  most  palatable  dishes  when  stewed,  baked, 
roasted  or  escallopped.  Here  let  me  say  that,  in  cooking  all  varie- 
ties^ toadstools,  they  should  be  cooked  precisely  as  is  the  oyster. 
The  time  of  cooking  should  be  determined  by  the  consistency  of  the 
variety ;  some  will  cook  in  five  minutes,  others  not  under  thirty. 
Salt,  pepper  and  butter  are  the  only  necessaries  as  seasoning.  The 
aim  should  be  to  preserve  as  nearly  as  possible  the  natural  flavor. 
It  is  culinary  heresy  to  soak  them  with  gravies  or  smother  them 
with  foreign  flavors. 
If  the  Russula  could  be  grown  artificially,  it  would  be  far  more 
popular  and  profitable  than  the  common  mushroom,  but  it  is  harder 
to  move  from  its  natural  settlements  than  the  North  American  In- 
dian. It  has  been  claimed  by  mushroom  growers,  until  within  the 
last  few  years,  that  the  spores  of  the  mushroom  have  to  pass  through 
the  digestive  apparatus  of  the  horse  before  they  will  germinate.  My 
