The fumes of the puff-ball, when burnt, have a powerfully narcotic quality; and, on this account, they are sometimes used to take the combs from hives without destroying the bees.
296. The COMMON MUSHROOM (Agaricus campestris) is a fungus consisting of a white cylindrical stalk and a convex cover of white or brownish colour, which has beneath an irregular arrangement of gills, pinky when young, but afterwards of dark liver colour.
When it first appears above ground the mushroom is smooth and nearly globular, and in this state it is called a button.
In England mushrooms are in great demand for the table. They are found wild in parks, and other pastures where the turf has not been ploughed for many years; and the best time for gathering them is in the months of August and September.
They are eaten fresh, either stewed or broiled; and are preserved for use either by drying, by being pickled, or in powder. They are also employed in making the well-known sauce called mushroom ketchup. As an article of food, however, mushrooms are by no means wholesome, being so tough, and having so great a resemblance to soft leather, as to be almost indigestible. This is particularly the case when they are of large size.
Mushrooms may be raised artificially on beds constructed for the purpose, even in cellars; for if they have only warmth and moisture, the plants will vegetate without light; but the most proper situations for them are under sheds in the open air. The plants thus grown, however, have more toughness than such as grow wild in the fields; and, in other respects, are much inferior to them.
297. There is a kind of mushroom (Agaricus georgii) which is yellowish, with yellowish white gills, and when full grown is sometimes so large as to measure eighteen inches across. This is occasionally eaten, but, in many instances, the use of it has been attended with injurious consequences.
298. In Covent Garden market a tall and spongy kind of mushroom (Agaricus procerus), with white gills, and a large horizontal ring round the stem, is frequently exposed for sale about the month of September.
299. On hedge-banks, in pastures, and in what are called fairy-rings, there is a species of mushroom (Agaricus orcades), with brownish or watery white gills, two or four in a set, a pale brown, convex, and irregular cover, and a whitish stem. These are considered by many persons to be the champignons of the French cooks. They have a much higher flavour than the common mushroom: but from their leathery nature are indigestible, except in the form of powder, with sauces, or in ketchup, in all of which they are very admirable.
With respect to the plants of the mushroom tribe, it ought to be observed that, though several of them are edible, many are extremely poisonous. Instances of the fatal effects arising from an indiscriminate adoption of them are innumerable. Great caution, therefore, is requisite that such only shall be used as are ascertained to be wholesome, particularly as, in many instances, the poisonous species can scarcely be distinguished by the eye from such as are innoxious. In cases of injury arising from poisonous funguses, the best remedy that can be administered is an emetic.