The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-08-12
Mushrooms and their OultivatiOn.

mind of any English-speaking race that
frogs are not toads, and that mush-
rooms are not toad stools Large sources
of food-supply, and delicious table
dainhes at that, are thus lost through
the prejudice that results from igno-
rance.
There are a good many people in this
country VINO use mushrooms and rejoice
Ia them, and there are few probably
among the reading classes who aIe not
aware of the fact that they are extern
sively cultivated in most European
countries, forming in France especially
a valuable and extraordinary wide
spread industry. Yet, to the general
public here, it is at best a dish rarely
seen, never tasted, and looked upon
with suspicion and distrusG.
All have to say to those who have
never tasted this deliescy, is to buy
them just to try it. It must be very
deeply rooted prejudice which would
compel them to persist In their dislike
after once tasting.
1t is a simple and easy matter to dis.
tinguish between the true and the false
mushrooms. In the first place, the
true grow generally in pastures, while
the false are to be found in woods, or
dinarily on the stumps of trees, and
growing in tufts or clusters. Then
they differ in appearance, the true be-
ing smooth, with a skiE generally easy
TO peel, with gills of pinky red or
white, changing with age to a liver
color, with the inner flesh white, and
with the stem white, solid, cylindrical,
and taperiDg from the earth toward the
cap. The false have a warty protuGer-
ance, or else fragments of membrane
sticking to the upper surface, are heavy,
and emerge from vulva or bag 4; they
have hollow stem, iurn blue when cut,
are moist on surface, are generally of a
rose or orange color. The taste of the
false is disagreeable md astringent !;
that OF the true, pleasant, sweetish, and
inviting, the stem of certain varieties
having a marked nutty flavor. Speci-
mems collected may be tested by sprink-
ling little salt on the spoDgy part or
gills. If they turn yellow, they are
poisonous if black, they are whole
some. Another test is to boil an onion,
stripped of the outer skin, with them !;
if the onion remains white they are
good, but if it turns blue or black, some
of them are certainly poisonous.
Now, as TO preparing them there are
various methods, OF which I shall
mention a few. The preface to all of
them, If 1t is desired to make the dish
as savory as possible, is to let them lie
for an hour or 80 In salt and water
Stewed mushrooms are prepared thus /:
take grown mushrooms, preferably such
as are young enough to have the gills
still reddish, cut off that part of the
stem which lay below the soil, wash
carefully, and remove the skin from the
top, put them in a stew-pan with some
salt, but no wRter-stew them till they
are tender, and mix with them a spoon
full of butter and one of parched flour.
Add wine if you choose, but the subtle
flavor of the mushroom is obscured by
any other. For broiled mushrooms,
prepare your material in the same
way bToil the mushrooms on
gridiron, and serve them up with
pepper, salt, and butter, iudiciously ap-
piled. The very young may be pre-
pared without removing the skin /; they
are then a little tougher, but are pre-
ferred by some in this state, as retain
ing thus more of their characteristic
flavor. The recipe for mushroom cat
sup is Mushroom juice, one gallon /;
allspice, one ounce pepper, cloves,
ginger, each half an ounce; salt, four
pounds boil one hour, strain, and
bottle. Mushroom sauce-a capital
sauce for poultry or wild fowl, IS made
thus Have q quart of fresh mushrooms
clean, cut them In two, put them in
siew-pan with little salt, mace, and
butter, aud stew gently for half an hour,
adding then half pint of cream, and
the yolks of two eggs thoroughly beaten
up keep stirring it till it bOils up.
Mushrooms may be cultivated simply
by taking manure from the stable in
small heaps, as little broken as possible,
and laying them about three inches
thick on a hot-bed made of alternate
layers of tanners bark and hOrse-duDg,
the uppermost layer consisting of tan
ners bark about two inches thick. Gov
er the bed then with little manure and
about three inches Of good soil, and
over all a thick coat of straw. The
manure containing the germs may be
known by the appearance of white
threads running through the little
heaps, and these Jumps on breaking
will give forth a mushroom smell. The
shed behind hot house, or a stable, or
cow house, is a good place for a mush-
room bed, as no flight is required, bu
only warmth and moisture. Ca.careous
earth of any kiLd viii greatly help the
production of mushrooms. In Paris,
there are extensive underground mush-
room gardens, several PrOprietOrs Of
some OF the French mushroom farms
having many miles of mushroom beds,
cultivated entirely by amp-hght. In
all moist climates they ought to be pro-
duced in great abundance and variety
Being rich n nitrogen and phosphorus,
and constituting, as old Erasmus Oar
win said, San isthmus between the two
great continents Of nature. the vegetable
and animal kingdoms" they sup
ply a wholesome, delicious, and nutri-
tive food, and would amply repay the
trouble of cultivating them here. In
other countries, as has been said, their
culture is a lucrative industry.
-Idieness is a disease that must be
combatted but viii not advise a rigid
adherence to a particular plan of study.
/, myself, have never persisted IN any
plan for two days together. a man
ought to read Just as inclination leads
him, for what he reads as task viii do
] 4 III