Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-04
QUEST OF THE TRUFFLE
THERE IS NO POPULAR ESTEEM
FOR THE CLASSIC EDIBLE.
Is a Gnome Of the Vegetable Kingdom
and Finding It Demands Skill
and Experience.
From the London Globe.

From the London Globe.
| Although a classic edible, the imperson-
| atty Of the truffie has always barred its
| way to popular esteem. If 1t were tnihs
| of beauty, or if only it would condescend 70
| make some visible sign of it's existence,
| country folk would assuredly go trui-
| fling as they do mushrooming or piacK-
| berrying But this eccentric tuber Is one OF
| the gnomes of the vegetable kingdom, ann
conceals itself so jealousy that Its success
| full quest demands both skill and expert
| ence Trufles, therefore, are appropriately
| placed by botanists in the great order OF
| "cryptograms' and cryptic, indeed, are
their underground ways. Here today and
| gone tomorrow is the family motto, ana
| they come and go in q manner which Is per-
| haps best described as "freakish. so
| curious is the nature of their growth that
| they have been regarded as the product OF
| a kind of vegetable specialization while
| a yet older idea was that they form the
connecting link between animal and veee.
| table life But the one undoubted TACT
| which comes down to US from the ancients
| is that they were very fond of eating them
! They are referred to by Martial and Juve-
| nal, and that great father of the Kitchen
| Apicus, makes many recommendations on
| their behalf 1t is not little curious, there
| fore, that, with all their Partially for these
| dainties, the Romans never attained any
| proficiency in truffle hunting. but were IN
the habit of digging up entire districts in
speculative search for them.
The First Hunter.
Who, then, was the first trufhe hunter1
It is difficult to assign him name. but 1t
Is pretty clear that he hunted on four legs
Foxes wolves, badgers have a decided
relish for the dusky tubers; nor are rats,
and even squirrels, exempt from the same
weakness But chief among the roofing
fraternity is the wild boar, While gooo
many of his domesticated descendants nave
also successfully carried on the business.
Dearly, however, as the pig loves trunes'
his owner loves them still more, and In
southern Europe a trained porker is OFTEN
employed in the search for them. To many
of the peasants such an assistant Is In
valuable, for, guided by his movements,
they are enabled to mark down with pre-
| cision the spots likely to repay the trouble
of excavation. Where truffies exist
trained nose is not often mistaken in their
whereabouts, for their scent is so peculiar
and penetrating that the point Is easily
made. They are generally found about
foot below the surface in a light calcareous
soil, and near-though seldom in-woods of
beech, oak or fir. The lowering of small
blue fly over certain spots is regarded by
some experts as a sign of the presence
of truff1es. But the majority of profess
sional hunters find it difficult to dispense
with the services of trained four-footed
| assistant. On the continent the habit of
relying upon the instinct of M. Cochon has
so long obtained that it is regarded as a
matter of course. But on our own breezy
downs and commons the sight of point
er pig leading the way, with his owner
marking down and testing his observations,
would be regarded a little ridiculous.
The French hunters, however, look at 1T
through another pair of spectacles.s With
them it is a dry matter of business, and
they not always skilled in the training
of dogs, the pleasure of which was prob
ably one of the first incentives to our own
practice of this precarious industry.
The Professional.
A dog to be trained and a prize to be
won were a sufficient temptation to the
rustic mind, and we have still some profess
sional truffie hunters who do fair stroke
of business in the mushroom months I'm
certain it is and must be. but constant OBJ
servation and experience can hardly fail to
yield some good results There can be ut
tie doubt that the skilled searcher knows
a good deal more about the niceties of the
industry than he cares to divulge. The
quest doubtless adds to the enjoyment of
country ramble, and the amateur who is
happy in the friendship of really lntelli-
gent dog may easily acquire taste for the
pursuit and even fall victim to its fasci-
nations The training of a suitable dog is
not difficult matter. The animal is first
familiariZed with the scent of the truff1e,
and his discovery of one purposely hidden
is rewarded with a morsel of choice food.
Some trainers bury a truffie in the ground,
and the dog soon comes to understand that
his supper depends upon his discovery of
the place when he is sometimes encouraged
to make the necessary excavation. In prac-
tice, however, the educated nose of the dog
is all that is called upon, his master per-
forming the necessary digging as often as
determined stand is made. The most intel
ligent and. trustworthy truff1e dogs were
originally an offshoot from the French
poodle, but a special breed was brought into
existence in the middle of the eighteenth
century. English hunters, however, long
preferred a small kind of mongrel terrier,
which shared no doubt in the poodle strain.
With such dogs they pursued for several
years their by no means Improbable call
ing, chiefly upon the chalk downs neghbor-
ing the woodlands of Wiltshire, Sussex and
Hampshire. One of the most successful of
these worthless was William Leach, a note
worthy character in Sussex chronicles. He
came from the West Indies in 1850. bring
ing with him some -well-trained "truffie
terriers" and having landed at Plymouth, i
plodded his way through the southern coun-
ties to the furthest point of Kent. constant
ly prospecting for truff1e," and intending
to set up his habitation on the spot where
he found them most abundant. Leach spent
four years in his wanderingS and finally
settled at Patching, near Arundel, where he
carried on the business of trufie hunting
till his death.
Outing for the Amateur.
An amateur DESTROYS of tempting fortune
in this tantafizing pursuit will find days
outing with an old hand more enlightening
than any appeal to books. From these he
may learn the localities where truffles were
once abundant and also where they are no
longer to be found For the impish thing
may revisit glimpses of the MOON but
seldom the place in which it once flourished
Indeed, the quest of the truff1e is often as
barren of result as that famous feat the
search In a dark room for black hat which
is not there. Signs Of truff1e are, in fact so
VIGOROUSLY uncertain that they may be al
most regarded as non-existent. And vet
the practiced eye-like that of the angler
takes instructive note of the likely place"
Some of our most successful hunters nlv
their calling in the autumn nights when
the scent of the truffle is stronger and lies
better on the dewy ground. Then it is that
clever dog assumes command of the expe-