The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-03-18
SMELLS OF FUNGOIA
First Truffles Ever Found in North
ern States Discovered in
Minnesota.
Harold Lyon Of the U. Of M. Wins
International Fame Among
@ Botanists.

No trufae has vet been found in any northern
state. But it lis possible that the common
in America. Fame awaits the hnder.--%One
Thousand American Fungi By Charles Nell
vaine 5y,44.. $'
Fame is no longer waiting. She is all
ready upon intimate terms with this truf
fe finder, of whom Mr. McIlvaine has
dreamed in his plump. scientific volume.
And the finder is Harold L. Lyon of this
city, instructor in botany at, the state uni
versity. &; Is TX. @ +
Mr.. Lyon, as. the mycologists of London
and of Paris are already informed, has
done more than to discover the common
Itruffe. He has discovered an uncommon
trrftie. species. SO uncommon that the
botanical department of the university,
after Ave days and nights of study, is al
most persuaded that it is species abso-
lutely new But Professor Conway Nc
MILAN and his corps of experts must be
| thoroughly convinced before they will at
tach Mr. Lyons name with a Latin tail to
| the kite Of Immortality H..
! Unearthed by Accident.
AS in many scientific discoveries, Mr..
Lyon succeeded partly by accident. Last
| Friday afternoon he was hunting for
bloodroot. Even as a freshman student,
Mr.. Lyon clambered along the edge of the
high bluff overlooking the east bank Of the
! Mississippi few rods north Of the Wash
|
knelt amid some saplings three or -four
feet distant from Eastwood tree. Rails
Ing the mould indifferently, he was won
dering to find the frost so obstinate. when
two inches below the surface and half ar
inch above the frozen earth, he uncovered
a nest OF thirty round objects, smooth
and chestnut brown. Immature potatoe:
| the ignorant finder would have called
them, half-decayed acorns, perhaps
| things OF no interest, Of no value, in an.
event. X 4 4~.r' o. ~ 81 .7rt,.> !
But Mr.. Lyon, with keen botanic eye
realized at once his inexpressible good for
1 tune. Like a long-searching- miner tina
has uncovered a ponderous nugget. Mr.
Lyon grabbed his treasure in both hands
He inhaled a glorious BREATH 1.-The odo
of matted milk" he says, although per
haps 1t was more nearly that ineffable per
Il fume of musk with which truff1es ono
ravished the nose Of a Roman poet. Ea
:. gerly Mr.. Lyon tire in two a little BROW
ball and exposed the ;gray-brown sinterio
filled with minute cells. To see was t.
taste-to taste a -spiritualized HAMBURG
- steak with an occult suggestion of hone
and qufn1ne-that mysterious taste tina
only truff1es can unfold. Filling his :pock
cts with the ambrosial balls, Mr. Lyo
\ was impelled,f as he reluctantly admits
to swing his trowel in the air and to emf
a subdued and learned paean.' He slippe
upon the shelving rock eighty feet abov
!, the river; but, happily for science, h
caught branch of the big Eastwood be
fore he had destroyed himself and the Sc
cret Of the only northern truff1e in Amer
I lea. 81. -.
Identity Thoroughly Established.
Upon Mr.. Lyons return to the uni
:. versity the botanical staff was quickl
summoned to study the great find ex
ternally and in section; to pore over frag
! ments Of the gray meat beneath a micro
!, scope, to consult volumes in. French, i
' German, in Italian. .. :,
\ Yet it was not until ST. Patrick's Da
that the university thought fit to heral
: the discovery Of what the populace wi
call a potato without price. ..i
Scientifically, however, the truff1e is n
I, potato although it is sometimes style
the potato mushroom and it belongs to tn
good old family Of the tubers.
The value of this discovery is appal
y ent from the fact that truff1es have bee
:. considered, since the days of Pliny, q
~ the most delicious Of edible fungi, til
j. vegetable equivalent; in higher table tall
to the best Of caviare. In Paris. truffe
|. commonly sell at from 81 to SO poun,
! They are found in England. German.
Is France, Italy, in Algiers, Syria, the Ea!
u Indies. Being "of subterranean habit
Il they are unearthed in France by traine
> poodles, in Italy by educated hogs.
:. A banquet in honor of Mr.. Lyon wi
Is soon be given by the theological club
:, Minneapolis. ~ - - -