The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-11-11
Trumes.

stem nor leaf, and varies in color from
light brown to black, is more or les:
| globular in form, and in size ranges
from that of filbert to that of large
ducks egg, the weight being anywhere
from two ounces to four pounds or
more. The surface is pretty knotty OF
warty and covered with a skin which
forms a sort of network of serpentine
veins; the interior is variously marbled.
The hymenium, or reproductive portion,
is found in the traversing veins; but lit
tie is known of the early development
and the vegatative portion. When ma.
ture, the truffie is found quite free from
attachment to any other body. As to
its origin, innumerable theories have
been propounded. Pliny considered
the truifle as an excrescence ofthe earth.
Plutarch attributed its formation to the
combined action of thunder, heat and
damp, producing Jumps in the earth
similar to tuberous swellings in the
human frame. 1t is also held that it is
the result of wound inflicted on the
roots of the oak by a fly or some other
insect DESTROYS of depositing its eggs,
and that such a swelling is produced
after the manner of the gall nut
An accomplished writer in the Lon
don Standard last year declined to re-
ceive this theory as satisfactory one,
for" he said, "truffies grow in past
ures and on open downs far away from
any trees, as well as under their shade.
They prefer loose soils and affect the
neighborhood of trees, especially oak,
beech and chestnut, though they do not
grow in any large numbers in thick
woods" They are found in most parts
of the temperate zones, but according
TO Appleton their existence in this coun-
try is very doubtful, the occasional an
nouncement of their discovery being
due to the finding of the Indian bread
or tuckahoe.
They are fairly common in all parts
of Central and Southern Europe and in
the north of Africa. Algeria and Pied
mont produce considerable quantities.
In Germany the common truffle is found,
as also the white truf1ie, a species OF
nearly allied genus, which grows half
above ground and is about as large as a
walnut, of a whitish red color and de-
decidedly less aromatic than the ordi-
nary variety. According to the Prayer
agricultural Gazette the export of truf-
fes from France, after steady increase
since the year 1872. amounted to the
value of 1880 francs in the year
1875, and rose to the enormous sum of
1867, 600 francs in 1877. The same
years export to Great Britain amount
ed to 128,000 kilogrammes; to Belgium,
17,156; to Germany, $4,000, and to
other countries, 27,571, while the total
production of France was estimated at
the value of 20,000,000 francs. At Apt
alone from fifteen to sixteen tons are
sold every year in the market, while the
revenue of the trutfle grounds at Car
pentras is put at 100000 per annum.
The French truffies, however, he
says, are decidedly superior to those of
and other country, but they vary in
favor according to locality. In the
northeast of France they are grayish in
color and nearly tasteless; further south,
in the Isere and the Gard, they have a
musky taste, which is stronger in those
grown in Savoy; in Burgundy they are
smaller, dry and have flavor of rosin
but the Quercy or Perigord truffie,
somewhat angular in form, firm, and
marked with yellowish streaks, is the
kind dear to Commands.
The truffie season begins in October
and lasts about three months. The
French use regularly trained dogs, bar
bets being the best, which hunt the
truffie as pointer or setter does game
The method of breaking them is to give
them, for short time, pieces of truffies
every morning before they are allowed
to partake of any other food. After a
certain period, when their appetite fol-
truffles increases, pieces are hidden in
the ground and they are made to find
them. Thus they are gradually taught
their business, though it often takes as
long as eighteen months before dog
becomes skilled in the practical art. A
first-rate truflle-hunting dog will bring
twenty-five or thirty-dollars. In Poitou
and Perigord, pigs are trained for the
purpose and having very fine noses and
a keen appetite for the trUffles, besides
being lasted at work, prove quite as
useful as dogs.
In England the three or four regu-
lar truffie hunters that are known en-
ploy dogs, the hunter digging up the
ground with rod or spade when the
animal begins to scratch at it eagerly.
Mr.. Ralph Banks says, in letter: 90
tried everywhere for three years to get
a genuine dog and when I did so it was
only through the kindness of a friend
who lives where truffies abound, and
the truflle hunter there had young
dog to spare. The dog is almost poo
die and will never miss ripe truflle
within forty yards. Sometimes in the
case of small one or pig-nut, he will
scratch and leave the place, coming
back to me with a small bark for his
piece of bread, which should always be
given after finding trufile."
In the Penny IiagGzine for 1888 there
is large wood-engraving of a Sussex
truffie-hunter with his two little dogs.
In the accompanying letterpress he is
described as "a celebrated trainer of
truffie-dogs," and his method of train
ing them is given, together with much
more information on the subject. 1.-The
doc which is usually selected for the
purpose of training is either poodle
or a French barbet."
According to writer in the Journal
deS DebdtS truffles were esteemed way
back in the days of Moses, when at
Pharaonic banquets monstrous tubers
weighing thirty-six kilogrammes, and
even more were served up. The Athe-
MAN epicures were acquainted with
them and a story is told of a bon
viyiant who manumitted whole
family of slaves for having invented a
delicious mode of preparing them. A
favorite way was to cook them in hot
ashes with slice of bacon and moisten
them with China wine. The Romans, at
least in their latter days, were not in
sensible to their astronomical charms.