Mexico weekly ledger., 1876-09-21
Something About Truffles.

The truf1e is a species of Underground
fungus largely used in French cookery
to give a peculiar rich flavor to meats.
It comes principally from France,
where it is always found in oak or beech
woods, and can only be gathered
through the agency of the keen scent
of dogs or pigs especially trained to
hunt for it. Both from the difficulty of
obtaining the fungus, and from he fact
that it is a delicacy highly priced by
epicures, it brings in all markets a large
price; and thus truffie hunting has long
been a remunerative calling for the
French and Italian p~easantry. In ap-
pearance, the trufie is q blackish mass,
covered with protuberances and weigh
ING from an ounce to several pounds;
when cut open it a presents a mar
bled appearance, and its reproductive
portion lit is s~exless) is found in the
veins in the shape OF minute sacs which
never open, each containing several
spores, possessing spine-coVered or
h~oneycombed surfaces.
Numerous attempts have been made
to cultivate these fungi, but with little
or no success. Regarding their early
development, comparatively nothing
has been known, and the spawn or veg
etative portion, which,in the case of the
mushroom, is readily obtained, allow
ing the cultivation of that fungus to any
degree, has not been definitely found in
the trutfie. Sprinkling the earth with
water, in which the parings of trut1les
have been stepped, has resulted, it is
stated, in producing them; and they
have likewise been obtained by the slow
process of planting calcareous soil with
acorns and waiting for the saplings to
reach IA few years growth, when the
trutfles could be gathered among the
roots. Still no practical method of
c~ultivating the truffie is in existence,
and since they are found completely
isolated from any thing which could
produce them, we are left inthe dark as
to how they are originated, or at best
with merely the supposition that, at an
early period of their development, they
are parasites of the tree roots, or the
theory that, like OAK gals, they are due
to the stings of insects. This last con-
lecture, however, arising from the fact
that trufies are attacked by dipterOus
insects, like other heterogeneous cryptic
gams, has been refuted by the ento-
~mologists.
A very curious and recent experiment
bv NJ. Brefeld throws some new light
on the subject, and may lead 70 the
long sought method of cultivation. The
penicalIium glducum is the well known
green mold which appears on bread and
cheese, and which yves its name to the
fact that, in free air, it consists of chap
lets of spores, in brush form, connected
to a stem or pedicle. The mode of re-
production of this mold depends on the
medium in which it exists. Now, by
placing the penictltium in a closed YES
sci with very little air, NJ. Brefeld has
obtained nodules which, after being
buried in moist sand, ~fructify with in
ternal aSci which do not open. That is
to say, they are produced in a manner
analogous to trutfies. The aSci, we
may explain here, are the little Sacs in
which the spores are contained, and are
found in many complex forms of fungi,
which build up a special organ called
the pertdtum to hold these sacs.
1t will be seen from NJ. Brefeld'S dis
covery that he has noted two forms of
green mold, one aerial, or peniciLliuDl,
the other existing when partially de-
prived of air, or tuberaceOus. The
truffie through its subterranean location
is always in confined air, present be-
sides in limited quantities, and in that
state is s~exless. Now it remains to find
its aerial form, to discover the peculiar
penicilliun2, which, placed under the
conditions noted, will produce, for its
nOdule, a trutlie.-Scaentifc american.