494. é 
has an extremely aromatic and delicious taste. 
As soon, however, 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 from the 
beginning of spring till late in autumn; but in 
the greatest plenty from towards the end of Au- 
gust till the end of October. They thrive ex- 
tremely, like all fungi, in warm moist autumns, 
and are then most delicious. After warm con- 
tinuous showers, they are found nearer the sur- 
face 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 
truffe is seen half uncovered. Truffles in this 
state, however, are of small value, as they are 
generally either dead or worm-eaten. The fa- 
vourite habitat of truffles is a somewhat moist 
light wood soil, which is defended from the im- 
mediate 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 currents of air. Where, in 
woods, there are places bare of timber-trees, and 
with but few bushes, or covered with pollarded 
wood that does not stand thick, they thrive 
under an oak, beech, whitethorn, and even under 
a fruit tree, and sometimes attain the weight of 
from a pound to a pound and ahalf. This un- 
usual size, however, is only met with in warm 
moist grounds. Here they lie nearer the surface 
of the soil. The drier the soil is, the deeper 
they are produced in it; but except in the vici- 
nity of springs, they are usually so much the 
smaller. 
Some kinds of truffles differ in the greater or 
less degree of roughness of the external rind, in 
a stronger smell, resembling that of garlic, and in 
a lighter or darker colour. Amongst all truffles, 
the white is of most value, and in highest re- 
quest. It grows in Upper Italy, chiefly in Pied- 
mont. Its surface is of a yellowish brown, or 
pale grey yellow, covered with protuberances 
resembling warts. The veins in the inside are 
more delicate than in the black kind, and are of 
a reddish yellow colour. Between the veins, the 
flesh of truffles that are fully formed, and their 
sap vessels and glands, are of a reddish colour. 
The smell and taste of the white truffle are much 
superior to those of the black; and on that ac- 
count, it is more deserving of cultivation. Only 
the first plantation requires to be circumstan- 
tially attended to, as living pieces can seldom be 
procured ; and to plant dead ones in new plan- 
tations is useless. Since this white truffle never 
degenerates to the black, but constantly pro- 
duces the same, it appears to be not a variety, 
but a particular species. It is also found in 
vineyards, meadows, and even in ploughed fields ; 
but the black ones are found only near to forest 
trees. 
TRUFFLE, 
The hog-truffle, swine-truffle, or wild truffle, 
Tuber surllum, is generally kidney -shaped, usually 
reaches the size of a bean, and only under very 
favourable circumstances that of a small hen’s 
egg. It has a thin leather-like rind, which is 
covered with many small round warts, without 
any flat interstices. By means of these, it is 
distinguished from the kidney-shaped varieties 
of the esculent truffle. The flesh is juicy, and 
traversed by coarse veins, which are not very 
crooked. The smell is disagreeably sour, and is 
like that of swine’s dung, on which account it 
has received its name. Its taste is unpleasant 
and insipid. On account of its disagreeable 
taste and smell, it is not used as food; and none 
but avaricious truffle-hunters mix it among the 
edible truffles, along with which it is often 
found. There are, nevertheless, districts in which 
none but swine-truffies are to be met with. They 
are usually found in abundance in such tracts 
of land as are not mellow, but inclined to sour- 
ness. Young plantations of truffles may easily 
be spoiled, and all labour and expense be useless, 
if, through inattention or want of knowledge, 
the swine-truffle is transferred from its old place 
of growth into the new. As the real truffle pre- 
fers the oak, so the swine-truffle seems to prefer 
the whitethorn; and the real truffle usually 
occurs singly and in small numbers, while the 
swine-truffle grows under the whitethorn in 
groups of from twenty to thirty. 
The small truffle, Tuber minimum, lives in 
much society, or always occurs in great numbers 
together. It attains only the size of a pea, and 
is cf an irregular form, approaching to that of a | | 
sphere. Formerly it was thought to be the 
young progeny of the edible truffle. The stag 
truffle, Tuber cervinum, is the largest kind. It 
has a globular form and a loose spongy flesh, 
which, in the midst of its body, has so little 
coherence, that it forms a dusty core or heart. 
It is not used by man; but red-deer scrape it. 
All truffles receive their nourishment by means 
of absorbing vessels, which cover their whole 
superficies, in the form, generally, of small warts ; 
and for this reason, they can thrive in none but 
moist situations, which offer them, in sufficient 
quantity, matter dissolved in water. In propor- 
tion as the earth about them dries up, the fungi 
must wither away. They have indeed, in their 
interior, vessels which contain water, to enable 
them for a time to do without external mois- 
ture; but if the drought continues, their inter- 
nal provision is exhausted, and they become 
unhealthy, and must at length perish from thirst. 
Yet too much moisture is also injurious and 
even destructive to them. Acids are generated, 
mould and numerous other parasitic plants get 
a footing upon the surface of the tubes, and by 
degrees obstruct the absorbing vessels, and cause 
the truffle to consume or putrify; the mould 
also allures many small worms, which establish 
themselves upon the truffle, and live upon its 
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