Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-12-03
HUNTING THE TRUFFLE.
A Queer Sport Which Pays Frenchme
Three Million Dollars Year.

Queer Sport Which Pays Frenchmen
Three Million Dollars Year.
The truffie is the unusual subject of a
state department investigation. Consul
Knowles at Bordeaux has found that
France produces three million dollars
worth of truffies annually and exports
five hundred thousand pounds of them.
The truff1e is worth one dollar a pound
in the locality where it is found, and it
sells for twice that in the principal
cities.
The ancient Romans, at whose sump-
tuous banquets truffies played an i'm
portant role, supposed that their exist
ence was one of the material results of
thunder. More modern botanists have
classed it as q species of mushroom, but
it can scarcely be termed such. To be
exact, the truffie is a tuberculous fun
gus, a sort of morbid extravasation of
vegetable sugars analogous to oak balls
or nut gals, and doubtless originating,
as these latter, by the sting of an in
sect.
During the months of July and Au
gust" says NJ. Valserres, a noted nat
uralist, "a little fly, azure-winged and
small of body, penetrates into the soil
at the base of oak trees or elsewhere in
search of certain juices there to be
found. With it's sting it pierces some
portion of the root, makes a incision,
and therein lays it's eggs. From this
incision, or scar, there exudes an viscous
substance, which clinging to the root,
grows into a truff1e." How exact this
theory may be is matter of con-
lecture. Certain it is that truffl hunt
ers are attracted to their spoil by lit
tie insect; but it is not altogether i'm
possible that the fly itself is attracted,
like a true gourmet, by the very ex-
istence of the precious object.
There are three species of tru ffies
found in France-tlre black and most
common, the white (highly prized),
and the truffe L all, which has a
flavor of garlic. They are found in all
soils, but chiefly in oak forests or where
the earth is damp and calcareous, thriv-
ing best in an almost sterile soil The
best that the country affords come
from PerigueuX and about Angouleme.
In appearance the ordinary truffie is
about the size of a walnut. with
rough, brown, warty surface, closely
akin to the potato. which it likewise re-
sembles in consistency, though not in
color. Not yielding to cultivation, they
must be sought for in chance places,
nor is the method of obtaining them
the less interesting.
1t is known that the pig has a vigor-
Gus appetite for this subterranean NOR
sci. 1t is a decided passion with the
race; SO that as the day dawns, out he is
led to perform n duty which, though
rather odious and disappointing to him,
is particularly lucrative to his master.
AS the scent, of the fox leads hounds
to the trail, so he odor of truffles at
tracks the porker to the cherished bed.
He shifts about this way and that I'M
til he locates the desired object, when
he Immediately begins to root up the
earth with his awkward sout He
is closely watched during the oper-
| alton by his owner, who. upon the
swine uprooting the truff1e. whacks
| him sharply over the nose with a stick.
In the responsive grunt of pain which
| follows this brutal blow, the soft,
moist fungus is dropped from the ami
| malls jaws, and before he can again
pick it mp it is bagged by the hunter.
The beast, nothing daunted, presses on
to another spot where. hidden few