When young and fresh, the horse mushroom is a most desirable addition to the bill of fare; it yields an abundant gravy, and the flesh is firm and delicious. It is a valuable plant when freshly gathered; but when stale it becomes tough and leathery, and without aroma or juice.
There is a curious large, brown, hairy variety, of rather uncommon occurrence, similar to the hairy variety of the meadow mushroom, the A. villaticus of Dr. Badham (given in error by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley as a variety of the meadow mushroom, and since corrected by him). It is a splendid plant, but, I think, very rare. I have only seen it once.
There is also another large, sienna-red, rank-looking variety, I have often gathered in certain situations under trees, &c., that few would be tempted to eat; it is probably a luxuriant, overgrown, disagreeable thing, that would give one a stomach-ache, and in place of better species is not worth experimenting upon.
Many country-folks readily distinguish the meadow from the horse mushroom, and have a great antipathy to the latter, although they are always willing to put it into the jar as one of the ingredients of ketchup. Opinions appear to differ greatly regarding the excellence of this species. Mr. Penrose writes—“I think young, and especially button specimens of this, very indigestible; until they are well opened out, they are unfit for use.” Such, however, I must say, is not my experience of button specimens.
There is a strong odour attached both to this fungus and its spawn, the ground just below the surface being frequently white with the latter. If horsedung be kicked aside in a rich pasture frequented by graminivorous animals, the earth will frequently present a snowy whiteness from the spawn of this species, from which the young individuals may be seen springing up. The specimen figured is not fully expanded, but is represented in the condition best for the table.
I once saw a sheep eat a large specimen with great apparent gusto, although the fungus was full of maggots.
Fir-cone Mushroom. [Fig. 10.]
(Agaricus [Amanita] strobiliformis.)5.
If colour is left out of the question, no finer species of Agaric than this one grows in the country. It attains a very large size in well-grown specimens, but is rare. I have but once found it, and then it was sprinkled pretty plentifully along the borders of a fir plantation in Hampshire, not far from Winchester. The solid compact flesh, fine ring, bulbous stem, and patched top, well mark this species. The persistent patches on the top are not very unlike the scales of a fir-cone, hence its specific name; the gills do not reach the stem.