The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-10-17
JAPANESE MUSHROOM GROWING

J. ]. Rein, in his Industries of
Japan" gives the following descrip-
ton of the shii-take, which the Japa-
nese more commonly use and which
lends it's name to the ordinary desig-
nation of the mushroom:
"Agaricus sp. Japanese shii-take-
This is an agaric, without ring and
anil, the hood scientifically placed and
irregular, having a brown outer skin
and white lamellae. The stalk like
wise is white, rather high and moder-
ately thick. Shii-take has therefore
only slight resemblance to our CON-
mon 'champignon' This mushroom
when dried contains 11.847 per cent
of albumen, 1.6S5 per cent of fat,
67.50S per cent of cellulose and other
heterogeneous components, 4370 per
cent of ashes and 11.490 per cent of
water"
The shii-take is easily dried and
preserved, in which process there Is
developed and retained an excellent
aroma, which makes it the most valu-
able of all Japanese fungi. 1t derives
it's name from the shii-noki, an ever
green oak grown in the main and
southern islands of Japan. 1t is used
in considerable number of japanese
dishes, but more commonly in soups.
The demand for use at home and
for export is so great that the guam
tity found growing on rotting wood,
roots and stumps is far from being
sufficient, and to meet the demand,
artificial propagation is resorted to,
the shii-noki and other oaks being
felled for the purpose, trees of about
six inches in diameter being selected
and cut into lengths of six feet
The backs of these fogs are then
SCARED with sharp knife and they
are laid on the ground, where they
remain for upward of three years
after which they are stacked in rows
in a perfectly shady place and in a
short time become covered with the
desired fungi. The first crop is
gathered in March, and about August
the logs are prepared for the second
crop by soaking them in water for a
day and beating them we'll with a
wooden mallet, after which they are
stacked in rows as before. After a
few days the mushrooms again appear
and continue growing for consider
able period.
Mimura Ringashushi recently con.
Quoted a serie of experiments, under
the supervision of the Forestry Asso.
citation in which he demonstrated that
trees cut in the autumn could be made
serviceable after the following sum
mer. The method by which this
| process is fastened is not clear, anG
has not yet been other than expert
| mented with. The method stated Is
pursued in an the mountainous part:
of the country and forms very con
siderable industry. Rein is further
| quoted in regard to another variety
"Agaricus sp. u-take-Jap
| Pine Fungus: So named because O.
it's growing generally in pine woods
When fresh it has a good taste ant
is high favorite. 1t is eaten in large
quantities, either boiled or roasted
picked or dried, but soon loses it,
SAVIOR and becomes insipid, and there
fore poor quality to export. Shiba
take and Nedzum-take are found il
the forests in the vicinity of Noun
Full, and are sold in the neighborint
villages. A small mushroom know
as the sho-ro is found growing in thu
| pine woods in the spring season. |
| is largely used in soups and also as ;
vegetable dish, but although yer.
tender is almost flavorless. Othe
edible fungi mentioned are Shimeshi
Kikurage, Tsuga-take, Hatsu-tak
and Hiratake, of which, however
little can be learned"
Statistics as to the annual produc
tion are lacking, but the Japanese ex
ports of dried mushrooms reached
1851 900 in 1906.