ference of expense between the spade and the plough husbandry.

Our German horticulturist begins with the natural history of the truffle, and a long enumeration of its culinary uses and dietetic virtues.

Whoever has acquired the least proficiency in gastronomy, which Voltaire calls "La Science de la Gueule,” and has had the good fortune to have dined at the Trois Frères Provencaux, in Paris, on a dinde truffée, or a perdrix truffée, or may have breakfasted on truffes au vin de Champagne, or even on an Andouillette truffée, will retain for the remainder of his days a grateful and indelible recollection of the exquisite relish of this delicious comestible, which is incomparable for its flavor, either when eaten. alone, or as a condiment, or a farcie.

A French lyric writer thus apostrophizes the trufle in one of his best songs,

"O Truffe! chère aux gourmands."

But, in our use of this precious tuber, we are centuries behindhand in civilization with the improved state of the gastronomic science in France. We never meet with trufles at our English tables in their fresh state. They are always dry and desiccated, and serve no other purpose than to impart a small portion of their sapidity to the stew or the ragout, to stimulate the palate. But in France, when the truffle is served up quite fresh, we have the more exquisite pleasure, the more solid satisfaction, of eating

In the "Philosophical Transactions," vol. 58, there is a statement of Mr. C. Miller, of Cambridge, who sowed some wheat in June 1766, and in August a plant was taken up, and separated into eighteen parts, and replanted. These plants were again taken up, and divided in October following, and planted separately to stand the winter, which division produced sixty-seven plants. They were again taken up in March, and produced 500 plants. The number of ears thus formed from one grain of wheat was 21,109, which gave three pecks and three quarters of a peck of corn, weighing forty-seven lbs. seven oz., and estimated 591,000 grains!

This year Mr. Lance, of Lewisham, has transplanted wheat, and in every instance the root transplanted is better than those remaining in the seed bed. He also divided a root in February, which then contained fourteen straws. It was separated into seven roots. They are now, June 16, 1832, in number 170 straws, and nearly all out in ear. Many of the ears are six inches long, and appear as if they would yield seventy grains in each ear. This would make 11,900 grains from one. There are many minor straws not taken into this account. Many of the transplanted roots contain forty and fifty straws, and are six feet high, with some ears that are seven inches long. The soil into which these roots were transplanted is an alluvial sand, which has had a top dressing of chalk. Transplanting offers employment for redundant

labourers.

From the "Mark-Lane Express" of Monday, June 25, 1832.

the root itself, of actually masticating it between the teeth in slow and silent ecstasy, which produces a prolongation of manducatory enjoyment beyond that of mere deglutition in a sauce. We were at first inclined to attribute this lamentable defect to our dreadful ignorance in the art of cookery, but we are now pursuaded it can only be ascribed to the difficulty, or rather the absolute impossibility, of procuring fresh truffles in England.

All the truffles used in this country are imported, at a great expense, from Italy and the south of France, and consequently are quite dried up, and resemble so many balls of old leather when they reach our kitchens. So rare, indeed, are fresh truffles in England, that the venerable father of British horticulture has assured us he never but once in his life tasted an English trufle freshly gathered, and that was at the sumptuous and scientific board of Mr. Coke, of Holkham.

A French gastronomer thus feelingly and eloquently describes the immense difference in the taste between fresh and dried truffles :

"La différence entre des truffes bien mûres, et fraîchement recueillies, et les truffes sechées, et trempées dans l'huile ou marinées et enfermées dans des bocaux, est énorme. Ces dernières que les Italiens nous vendent chèrement, sont autant inférieures aux premières, que des tranches de pommes desséchées le sont aux belles pommes du jardin du Roi à Fontainebleau recueillies de par nos propres mains."

When the mode of raising truffles by artificial culture, of which we are now to speak, shall once be made known, let us hope that our tables will be plentifully supplied with a root which, when fresh, is deservedly esteemed as the very pride and essence of good cheer. There will even be something patriotic in the attempt to liberate this country from the heavy contributions levied upon her in the purchase of this article from foreign nations, whose soil and climate are not more favorable to its cultivation than our own, under a proper system of management.

The truffle was formerly supposed to possess certain aphrodisiac qualities, but this idea seems to be entirely exploded, and it is now only valued as an esculent and a condiment. De Bornhobz considers it as the intermediary link in the chain which connects the vegetable and animal kingdoms together; every thing which relates to the natural history of this Lycoperdon is therefore extremely curious.

There are two species of esculent truffles, the white and the black; but each of them is known by the name of the True Trufle, Tuber Gulonem, Tuber Gulosorum, Lycoperdon Tuber, Truffe des Gourmands, or the Gormand's Truffle.

The white is by far the finest flavored, and therefore the most esteemed; but, as these only grow naturally in Upper Italy, and principally in Piedmont, it is difficult to keep them sufficiently fresh, during so long a journey, to transplant them into our English truffle-beds, we shall therefore confine ourselves to the black species, which may easily be procured from France, and indeed are indigenous in England.

The spots which truffles prefer are a rather light and moist soil, in the midst of woods, where the ground is clear of brush or underwood to admit a free circulation of air, but so shaded by tall oaks as to soften the immediate action of the burning rays of the sun, without entirely excluding its genial influence.

Whilst the truffle is yet young, it has somewhat of an earthy taste, or that of decayed leaves. It is only when it approaches maturity, and has nearly attained its full growth and ripeness, that it exhales that savoury and balsamic odour so peculiar to this root. But this scent only lasts for a few days, and as decay ensues, the odour becomes disagreeable, resembling that of stale urine; and, as the tuber rots and perishes, it finishes by becoming insupportable to our sense of smelling. It is from their peculiar odour that dogs, and even pigs, are taught on the continent to discover this tuber as it lies concealed in the ground. A good truffle dog always commands a high price; and the exclusive right of gathering truffles in a forest is often rented out for 300 or £400 a year, according to the extent of the wood, the fresh-gathered truffles selling on the spot from 2s. to 3s. the pound. The Perigord truffles are of a superior flavor to those of Burgundy, or indeed of any other part of France.

Those rather open spots in woods and forests which have been cleared of underwood, are very favorable to the growth of truffles under the shade of an oak, a beech, an old hawthorn, or even of an apple or pear tree, when the ground beneath is only covered with a thin brushwood, and not with a number of young trees which intercept the free circulation of the air. In such favorable places they are often found of the weight of a quarter of a pound, and sometimes of half a pound; but truffles of this extraordinary size are only met with in a warm and somewhat humid soil, except indeed in the neighbourhood of a spring of water, where they always thrive, and the tubers are then found near the surface, as they descend deeper into the earth, and dwindle in size in proportion as the soil is hard and dry.

Although the truffle will grow under the beech, the hawthorn, and some fruit trees, when the soil and site are otherwise favorable, yet it is the shade of the oak for which it shews the most affection. It abhors every kind of the pine and fir tribe, and is rarely found in woods consisting of trees of different kinds.

It is proved that a soil formed of a considerable quantity of the decomposed leaves and rotten branches of the oak, produces the same salutary influence in the production, size, and quality of the truffle, that horse-dung is known to have in raising mushrooms. In the latter, it is the decomposed animal matter; in the former, the decomposed vegetable or quercine matter of the oak, probably its tannin, which proves efficacious.

It follows then, that, in order to raise truffles by artificial culture, it will be necessary to collect together a sufficient quantity of decayed oak leaves or rotten boughs of this tree in a spot favorable for the formation of a truffle-bed, for it is upon the complete saturity of the prepared soil with quercine matter in a decomposed state, that the success of the culture of this tuber must depend. The truffle therefore may, with great truth and justice, address to the monarch of our forests the eulogy bestowed on it by our countryman James Howell, author of the Familiar Letters, (who, by the bye, was educated at Hereford College School,) in his "Dodona's Grove:"

"Arbor honoretur cujus nos umbra tultur."

For the truffle, in order to thrive, must not only be planted under the shade of the oak, but in a soil completely saturated with oak leaves, or other decayed oaken matter.

In preparing the plantation of truffle-beds, it will be necessary to distinguish between their cultivation in woodlands and in gardens. The former does not require any thing like so much preparation as the latter, for, in an oak wood, time and nature have already performed the labour, whereas, in a garden, it is obvious that art must be made entirely to supply the defect of nature. A great deal of time and expense, therefore, may be saved in making choice of woodlands for this purpose, where it can be done. But, whether you plant this root in woods or in gardens, the first thing which demands your attention is to fix upon a low bottom, a little moist soil, such as we meet with near rivers, brooks, and pools, without however being marshy or disposed to fermentation, but light and fertile. The borders of marshes, turbaries, and saline springs, are the least favorable spots, and these may always be known from their producing a coarse rank herbage, which sheep and cattle refuse, or will only bite when forced by hunger.

When a convenient spot of ground of this description cannot be had, it may be artificially created near a spring of water, or at the bottom of a hill; but the expense of course will be much more considerable.

When the place for your truffle-bed is fixed upon, you begin by digging up the soil to the depth of from four to five feet, and you carefully line the bottom and sides of the pit, thus made, with stiff luted clay a foot thick, as is done in puddling

canals, to prevent the spring or river water which must be brought into it from filtering entirely away, and being lost.

The pit being thus prepared, you fill it up with the compost which we are about to describe, and you let in the stream of the spring or rivulet; but, though truffles love a moist soil, they cannot bear a marsh or standing water, it will be absolutely necessary, therefore to open a small trench on the opposite side of the pit to that where the stream enters, that the superfluous water may flow off; and the trench should be so made as to open and shut as occasion may require. If in great droughts the spring itself should dry up, this defect must be supplied by hand-watering, to which constant recourse must be had in those situations which have not the advantage of a running streamlet, wherewith continually to irrigate the truffle-bed.

The best truffles are always found in a light ferruginous and calcarious soil; it is therefore of a similar earth that the artificial beds should be composed. But this, like the truffles themselves, is not every where to be found. If you meet with it close at hand, it is so much gained, as it will then only be necessary to superadd the other indispensable ingredients to form the compost. A ferruginous and calcarious soil is sometimes too hard and compact, but rarely ever too light for the growth of the truffle; sometimes also it is not sufficiently impregnated with iron. In the first case a mixture of sand, and in the second, of clay, will produce the desired effect; and, in the third, recourse must be had to the addition of a proper quantity of the mineral, which may almost every where be found, and which must be carefully broken to pieces, and mixed in the proportion of one third with the natural soil. If the iron ore or mineral, however, cannot be procured, you may substitute in its place iron filings or the scoria from a blacksmith's shop, which will soon rust and dissolve into a mixture with the soil from the action of the humidity of the pit.

In all trufferies, the first bed at the bottom of the pit should be formed a foot deep of chalk or lime marl; or, when marl of this description cannot be had, pulverized chalk or pounded limestone will answer the same purpose, the three indispensable ingredients for the production of truffles being a due mixture of calcarious, ferruginous, and quercine matter, but principally the latter. But, before the formation of this first bed, it may be prudent to line the bottom and sides by a sort of walling of limestone. This will prevent the intrusion of mice and small vermin, which are great devourers of truffles, and will also protect the compost from being washed away by any torrent of water in a rainy season. At the same time, care should be taken not to wall up the truffle bed in so compact a manner as entirely to dam up the water, otherwise it would become a quagmire. The great point is to secure the requisite degree of humidity, without making a pool of the bed.