Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1897-04-17
TRUFFlES IN ENGLAND.
A Spot That Is Famed for Its Mucll
Esteemed Fungus.

Esteemed Fungus.
An ingenious school board child once
defined a radish as round and red, eX-
ccpt when it vas long and white. Sim
ilarly the trutlie may be described as
round and black, except when it is oval
and yellow, 1t possesses a peculiar,
penetrating, pungent odor, and a flavor
which has been compared to almost
every known edible, but which is, in
point of fact, distinct and peculiar to
itself. "a truffle," as famous CASTRO
nomic expert sagely remarked, tastes
like a %truflle, and like nothing else UNI
der the sun" The late Lord Beacons-
field, who, strangely enough, detested
truties, Is reported to have described
them as looking like rotten potatoes
and tasting like bad lucifer matches"
The best truffles come from Perigord,
near Bordeaux, and from a place called
Carpentras, which is in the neighbor-
hood of Marseilles. To the peasant who
resides in these districts the black,
graduated, nutlike root is everything
board, lodging, fuel and clothing.
From the end of November, when the
harvest begins, until the middle of
March, when it ends, he hunts for truf-
files morning, noon and night with a
praiseworthy diligence which leaves lit.
tie to be desired. During the remainder
of the year he divides his time pretty
equally between indulging in piously
worded regrets that the harvest was
not more bountiful and attempting to
forecast the quantities which will be
available for gathering during the en-
suing season.
The fungus grows and ripens at n
depth of from eight to twelve inches be-
meath the surface of the ground, and is
hunted by dogs specially trained to the
work. A good dog will often unearth
300 or 400 truffies in a day; and during
the season it is no uncommon thing for
an expert hunter who understands his
business and has a knowledge Of the
localities where the root is to be found
to make as much as three and four
pounds daily. In addition to the dogs,
pigs are also used to smell out the hid
ing places of the trufles, but experience
has shown that they are not so reliable,
besides being far more difficult to
train.
England takes n considerable proper
ton of the French crop, the price on
the London market varying from six
shillings to two guineas a pound. A Sc
ries of severe frosts kills the fungus, or,
at all events, prevents II from ripening;
and truflles are then extremely scarce
and proportionately dear. Last year,
as it happened, hardly any trufles were
to be had, either for love or money, and
a number Of "lots" were sold wholesale
toward the close of the season ut 30
shillings a pound. This year the same
truffles would probably not fetch more
than a fifth of that sum.
In addition to the true French trufle
there are considerable quantities of
English ones on the market-more, in
fact, than the dealers care to admit.
Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorsetshire
are where they are generally found,
and it is a legend to this day among the
country people engaged in the business
that the existence of the underground
root in their neighborhood was first
made known to their ancestors many
years ago by a foreigner who came
among them from ne one knew whence,
accompanied by two long-haired dogs
of the poodle variety.
Fpping forest, once famous for its
trufles, Is now destitute of the succu-
lent root, and the same remark applies
to Hadleigh woods and the forest coun-
try around Barnet.-London Answers.