A treatise on the esculent funguses of England / containing an account of their classical history, uses, characters, development, structure, nutritious properties, modes of cooking and preserving, etc.

by David Badham

Touch not! But those upon the fig-tree’s rind

Securely pluck—a safe and savoury kind!”

The elm, the alder, the larch, the beech, and some other trees, seem capable of supporting both good and bad species at their roots; hence it is not safe to trust implicitly to the tree to determine the wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of the fungus that grows out of it, or in its neighbourhood. The presence of a free acid is by no means conclusive either way, there being many species of both good and bad, which will indifferently turn litmus-paper red. The old and very general practice adopted by cooks of dressing funguses with a silver spoon (which is supposed to become tarnished, then, only when their juices are of a deleterious quality), is an error which cannot be too generally known and exposed, as many lives, especially on the Continent, have been, and still are, sacrificed to it annually. In some cases the kitchen-fire will extract the deleterious property from the funguses, which it would have been unsafe to eat raw, and frequently the acrid lactescent kinds change their nature entirely and become mild by cooking; in other cases, the virus is drawn out by saturating the fungus, sometimes before dressing it, either in vinegar or brine,[91] the liquid then containing the poison which was originally in the plant; but in other species, as in Ag. emeticus, it would seem from the experiments of M. Krapf, of Vienna, upon living animals, that it is to be extracted neither by ebullition nor desiccation.[92]

The effects produced by the poison of mushrooms are exceedingly various, that is to say, the virus itself differs in different species, both as to kind and, where that is the same, as to the degree of its concentration; it is generally, however, of the class called acro-narcotic, producing inflammatory affections of the intestines, and exerting a deleterious influence over the whole nervous system. In cases where only a very small quantity has been taken experimentally, a constriction of the fauces has followed, and continued for a period varying from some minutes to several hours, occasioning, or not, nausea, heat, and, in some instances, even pain of the stomach; “sometimes the affection is entirely confined to the head, and a stupor or light delirium succeeds the eating of some species, and continues for two or three days.”[93] Not unfrequently, as in those cases cited by Larber, the symptoms have been altogether those of cholera, without any cerebral disturbance whatever; but in other instances that have come to my knowledge, during a several years’ residence on the Continent, these have been of a mixed character,[94] in which both the head and viscera have participated; and the autopsies after death have, in accordance with the symptoms, shown the stomach and intestines more or less disorganized with the products of inflammation, together with a congested state of the brain or of its investments, or a local or general softening of its substance.[95] The poison, as has been said, exists in very different degrees of intensity in different species. In some, as the Amanita verna, a few grains of the fresh fungus suffice to kill a dog;[96] while the Agaricus muscarius, though equally fatal in sufficient quantities, is not nearly so strong. Some time in general elapses from the swallowing the poison to that in which its deleterious workings first begin to be felt. I have heard of cases (similar to those cited in the last note) of persons who had supped overnight on the meal that was to prove their last, who have slept, risen next morning, gone to work, and continued working for hours, before they have been made aware of their condition. When, however, the symptoms have once set in, they become rapidly more and more alarming, while the chances of arresting or mitigating their excruciating severity lessen every minute. As the evils to be apprehended from the agency of these plants can only be prevented by their instant evacuation, to assist the disposition to vomit, or, if called in early enough, to anticipate it by the milder emetics in sufficient doses (surely not by strong ones, as some have recommended!), and, when the stomach has been thoroughly evacuated, to relieve the violence of the pain by bland mucilaginous drinks, with opiates, are the indications plainly pointed out, and the means by which inflammation and subsequent sphacelus of the gut, as well as the deleterious effects produced on the nervous system by the absorption of the poison into it, have been occasionally averted; but should symptoms of great depression be already present (as too frequently happens before the medical man arrives), he will endeavour, in that case, to rally the vital powers (scanty though the chances of success will then be) by small and repeated doses of sulphuric ether and ammonia combined, or should head symptoms require his interference, he must in that case bleed.

CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO THEIR GROWTH.

Of these, in fact, we know but little, and in the great majority of instances absolutely nothing; in a few cases moisture[97] and heat seem alone sufficient, even in our own hands, to cause some of them to grow; in others, electricity appears indispensable. A wet autumn is generally found to be exceedingly prolific in these plants, with the following notable difference as to kind: all those that are parasitical on trees show themselves, during a wet season, in amount directly varying with that of the previous rain, irrespective of any other influences conspiring to give this effect; whilst those, on the other hand, which issue from the earth, when the surface of this has been long chilled or when the electrical state of the air has not been materially modified for some time, will be found to come up sparingly or not at all, whatever rain may have fallen. An exception to this rule occurs in the common mushroom, which, by the combination of certain degrees of heat and moisture, may be reared throughout the year without the co-operation of electricity. A variety of plans have been recommended for this purpose, many of which are both troublesome and expensive; the following, taken by M. Roques from a scientific work on gardening, and said to be infallible, has, if so, the great advantage of extreme simplicity to recommend it:—“Having observed that all those dunghills which abounded chiefly in sheep- or cow-droppings, began shortly to turn mouldy on their surface and to bear mushrooms, I collected a quantity of this manure, which, so soon as it began to turn white, I strewed lightly over some melon-beds and some spring crops of vegetables, and obtained in either case, and as often as I repeated the experiment, a ready supply of excellent mushrooms, which came up from a month to six weeks after the dung had been so disposed of; but as an equable temperature is in all cases desirable to render the result certain, where this cannot be secured under the protection of glass, the next best plan is to scatter a portion of the above dungs mixed with a little earth in a cave or cellar, to which some tan is an excellent addition; for tan, though it kills other vegetable growths, has quite an opposite effect on funguses.”

Next to the common mushroom, in regard to the success attending its cultivation, comes that of the Pietra funghaia, a plant unknown to Clusius, but described by Mathiolus and Imperato, under the name of the ‘stony fungus.’ Cesalpinus has added to their accounts, directions for procuring it the whole year through, which, he says, is to be done either by irrigating the soil over the site of the stone, or by transferring the Pietra funghaia with a portion of the original mould, and watering it in our own garden. Porta adds, that the funguses take seven days to come to perfection, and may be gathered from the naked block (where this has been properly moistened) six times a year; but in preference to merely watering the blocks, he recommends that a light covering of garden mould should be first thrown over them. The Pietra funghaia, though its range of territory be extremely small, lies embedded in a variety of soils, in consequence of which its Polyporus, like our own mushroom, is very various in flavour, depending on the kind of humus in which its matrix happens to be placed. Those that grow on the high grounds above Sorrento, and on the sides of Vesuvius, are in less esteem than such as are brought into the Naples market from the mountains of Apulia.[98]

A third fungus, which we have the means of producing ad libitum, is that which sprouts from the pollard head of the black poplar;[99] these heads it is usual to remove at the latter end of autumn, as soon as the vintage is over, and their marriage with the vine is annulled; hundreds of such heads are then cut and transported to different parts; they are abundantly watered during the first month, and in a short time produce that truly delicious fungus, Agaricus caudicinus, the Pioppini, which, during the autumn of the year, make the greatest show in many of the Italian market-places. These pollard blocks continue to bear, for from twelve to fourteen years; I saw a row of them in the botanic garden at Naples, which, after this period, were still productive, though less frequently, and of fewer Agarics at a crop. The practice of rearing funguses from the poplar is not modern; Dioscorides knew, for he tells us that if we “bark the white or black poplar, cutting the bark into pieces and covering it with horse-dung, an excellent kind of fungus will spring up, and continue to bear throughout the year:” by way of comment to which passage Mathiolus adds, that a little leaven[100] will produce an abundant crop in four days. Another fungus, which I have myself reared (Polyporus avellanus), is to be procured by singeing over a handful of straw a block of the cob-nut tree, which is then to be watered and put by. In about a month the funguses make their appearance, which are quite white, of from two to three inches in diameter, and excellent to eat; while their profusion is sometimes so great, as entirely to hide the wood from which they spring.[101] Dr. Thore says, that in the Landes, the Boletus edulis and Ag. procerus are constantly raised by the inhabitants of that district, from a watery infusion of the said plants; that something more than this, however, is necessary, seems certain, since during the two or three years during which I frequented the baths of Lucca, and was in the habit of using infusions of these and a variety of other funguses, often throwing them over the very spots where each kind grew, my experiments never succeeded. Nor was Dr. Puccinelli, of Lucca, who repeated similar experiments in the botanic garden there, much more successful. Briganti, of Naples, told me much the same story; and Sanguinetti at Rome was equally unsuccessful with Ottaviani at Urbino. On making inquiry of friends in England who have attempted to propagate different kinds of funguses, either by infusion or otherwise, their attempts generally failed. My friend Mrs. Hussey, in particular, acquaints me that she has been in the habit of subjecting many plants to a like experiment, and with similar want of result. Lastly, as concerning truffles, Mr. Bornholtz has given directions how to rear them, which, as they are exceedingly expensive and troublesome, must needs be infallible to secure proselytes, even among the most sworn amateurs of these delicacies. “Prepare your ground,” says he, “with oak leaves in decay; you must also mix some iron with it and take care to make it of a proper consistence, either by adding sand, should it be too compact, or clay, should it be of too light a nature; having then with great care transplanted your truffles, (which must be properly packed with a quantity of the original mould about them,) they are to be placed tenderly in the new settlement, covered over lightly with mould, and this again is to be covered with boughs of oak and Carpinus Betulus to protect the deposit from molestation; neither must you consider your work completed till a sacred grove of these particular trees has been planted round it, which must be done with such precaution, that while they keep the precious ground in a perpetual twilight, they must not obstruct it too much, but leave a certain free passage to the air.” After which injunctions, if they be carefully attended to, Mr. B. assures us that we can reckon, without fear of disappointment, on a dish of truffles, whenever we may want them for ourselves or our friends.

FAIRY RINGS.

We know as little of the origin of fairy-rings, as of any other phenomenon connected with the growth of funguses. These fairy-rings are of all sizes, from one and a half to thirty feet in diameter; the grass composing them is observed in spring, to be of a thicker growth than the surrounding herbage, and, in consequence of the manure afforded by the crop of last year, is of a darker colour. Within these rings are frequently seen certain varieties of this class of plants, very generally Agarics, though puff-balls frequently, and occasionally the Boletus subtomentosus, affect a similar mode of growth. Of the Agarics which appear in these circles, some of the principal are Agaricus oreades, Ag. prunulus, Ag. Orcella, Ag. Georgii, Ag. personatus, and Ag. campestris. As all these feed at the expense of the grass, (by exhausting the ground that would otherwise have furnished it with the necessary supplies,) the richest vegetation in the field is generally the first to become seared. These rings (giving birth to some one species which, dying, is not unfrequently succeeded by another a little later, and this perhaps by a third, in the same order of occurrence) continue to enlarge their boundaries for a long but indefinite period.