The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-04
FOODS OF THE WOODS.
Danger of Following UnscientinC
Rules About Mushrooms.

AS long as the Ladies' Home Journal con-
fines itself to the instruction of young La
dies who need to be told what to say when
accompanied home from church by young
men, or the I,voper answer to make upon
receiving proposal of marriage. there is
not much harm done, and we only wonder
If there really are as many people who need
this kind of information as the magazine
claims. Even when it tells us how to sup
port family on $500, and save something,
we smile at the hypocrisy of publication
that claims to be a friend of women and
yet allows such an article to be printed
without calling attention to the fact that the
wife of the household does $500 worth Of
work and receives nothing more than a cali
leo dress for her services. But when the
Ladies Home Journal tries to tell people
how to distinguish between edible and pois-
onous fungi. and does it in the reckless and
misleading manner that 1t has in it's August
number, it is serious business, and 1 feel
justified in uttering a warning against the
so-called information. Mrs. Rorer undoubt-
edly knows how to cook, but we advise her
to let some one gather her mushrooms for
her or she may lose her reputation.
While do not claim to be familiar with
all of the four or five thousand species of
fieshy fungi in existence, do know the diff
ference between Amanita phalloides and
Agaricus campestris, and might say in pass
ing that ] didn't learn it from the Ladies'
Home Journal 1t is admitted by every one
who knows anything about the subject that
in no branch Of botany is it more difficult
to give written description OF plant that
will serve for its accurate identification than
in this group of the f1eshy fungi No book
or,f
of the subject to take up half dozen forms
collected at random and positively deter
mine their names. DIR. Farlow, of Harvard
University. is about to issue a book which,
because of its magnificent illustrations, will
come nearer doing it than anything pre-
viously published. but this is not yet accessl-
BILE, and it is evident that Mrs. Rorer did
not see the advance sheets. The only way
to become really acquainted with mush-
rooms is by a sort of oral tradition. Find
some one who. through unusual advantages.
has had handed down to him the definite
knowledge of certain forms. Go with him
to where the fungi grow and have him point
out all the many variations that may occur
IN the same species, ana after while you
will find yourself able to see points of dis
tinction which, no, written account could
ever have made clear, Learn few good
species we'll and stick 70 them, and you need
have no fears of an untimely death through
your fondness for food of the woods"
The title of Mrs. Rorer's article shows
pretty plainly that she has never done any
great amount of collecting; for most of the
best edible fungi, instead of being found
in the woods, grow in lawns and pas
lures or other open ground. There is no bet
ter rule for beginner than to avoid the
woods entirely and confne his collecting to
pastures and orchards. Sheep runs are par
tcularly good collecting places. The Lepiota
procera which Mrs. Rorer praises so highly
! have never found in the woods, although
l have collected hundreds of specimens. 1
also fail to see why this form should merit
%h0 Of the "fha Of mushrooms -
eating any Of Mrs. Rorer's mstchless
like / fancy stewed blanket would than
anything else. Certainly it does not COM
iris or Coprinus commatus or Cantharelus
cibariuS Mrs Rorer does not mention
these forms. Perhaps she does not know
1t is hard to conceive of any one picking
out two more difficult genera of edible fungi
for the beginner to determine than those Of
Russula and Boletus, to which the most OF
the article in the Ladies Home Journal is
devoted. If these be forms for the kinder
garten," one cannot help wondering what
will be considered in the high school While
in general the genus Russula is readily
recognized 1t is not nearly so easy to sep
arate the species, and 1t certainly is
question whether all the forms mentioned
as edible are wholesome. People are usu-
ally made very sick by eating Russula emet-
lea, as we'll as by r. rubra and r. fragiiis
two species which are with difficulty dis
tinguished from the former. If Mrs. Rorer
the slightest Inconvenience. she must be
an immune, and is hardly qualified to give
instruction to beginners The genus Bole-
tus is, of course, even easier to recognize
than Russula, for there are only one or two
other forms which are fieshy and have the
characteristic pores. However. there Is no
group In which it is any harder to distin-
guish the various species. and in an ele-
mentary article on edible fungi it had much
better be left out entirely. Whether there
is only one species which is really poison
Gus, as Mrs. Rorer says. is question, but
it would certainly seem that some directions
given along with the description OF the
wholesome forms. in this country we have
some thirty-hve or forty species. not over
six or seven of which are generally consld-
cred good eating, and to assert that all the
others are edible is rash, to say the least
Just what Mrs. Rorer means by kid boz
leti' is not plain. Can 1t be that she al
ludes to the age? Throughout the whole
article it is hard to understand why these
questionable forms were selected when so
many good edible species abound which
grow in better company and are much more
easily identified. There are the Coprinus
commatus and G. miccacius. both of which
grow in lawns and are easily recogniZeds
Agaricus 2rvense. Clytocyle laccata ana
many other of the gilled forms. to say MOTH
| ing Of the true puffbalis among which there
are no poisonous species and the MoTell,
which although not belonging to the mush-
room family. is perhaps the finest favored
fungus which is eaten.
1t is highly desirable that people who en-
| joy such food should be able to collect and
accurately determine feshy fungi, and II IS
q fact that every year thousands OF pounds
of ignorance and fear with regard to them.
But so long as such articles as the one
mentioned are published IL is much better
that those for whom the articles were
upon some one who has had large experf-
cnce in such things. BOTANlSI.