[160] Ude complains that we have none of the light French wines for sauces except champagne. Cider or perry will, however, be found good substitutes.
[161] “Hopkirk records an instance of one weighing five pounds six ounces, and measuring forty-three inches in circumference. Withering mentions another that weighed fourteen pounds.”—Berkeley.
[162] “It is commonly supposed that such funguses as change colour afford thereby a clear evidence of their noxious properties, and yet daily experience, as far as it went, ought to have led to just the opposite conclusion. Almost all the poisonous Agarics have a flesh that does not change colour, and we know as yet of no Boletus, many of which do so change, that is really unsafe to eat.”—Vitt.
[163] This blue loses much of its intensity by long exposure to the air. It is moreover to be remarked that in specimens, the flesh of which has been eaten into by slugs or insects, no change of colour takes place.
[164] This requires further corroboration.
[165] Sc. “Blue Hats” (?), as Ag. Georgii is called “White Caps,” and Ag. Oreades “Scotch Bonnets.”
[166] This mushroom, famous for the flavour it imparts to rich soups and gravies, is also used in the French “à la mode” beef shops in London, with the view of heightening the flavour of that dish. As the aroma is dissipated by overcooking, it should be thrown in only a few minutes before serving. The dried Champignon is much more extensively used in France and Italy than it is in England.
[167] Although the Ag. oreades be, properly speaking, a terrestrial and not a parasitical fungus, still as it springs up amidst the roots of the grasses and flourishes by depriving them of their supplies, the herbage in its neighbourhood is the first to scorch up and wither.
[168] I have, however, found them white.
[169] “Dans le département des landes on sème l’Agaricus Palomet. Pour cela on se contente d’arroser la terre d’un bosquet planté en chênes avec de l’eau dans laquelle on a fait bouillir une grande quantité de ces champignons; la culture n’exige d’autres soins que d’éloigner de ces lieux les chevaux, les pores et les bêtes à cornes, qui sont très-friandes de ces plantes; ce moyen réussit toujours, mais nous laissons aux physiciens à nous expliquer pourquoi l’ébullition n’a pas fait mourir les germes.”—Thore.