Part 31

The Count de Borch and M. de Bornholz give the chief accounts of the efforts that have been made towards the cultivation of these fungi. They state that a compost is prepared of pure mould and vegetable soil mixed with dry leaves and sawdust, in which, when properly moistened, mature truffles are placed in winter, either whole or in fragments, and that after the lapse of some time small truffles are found in the compost. The most successful plan consists in sowing acorns over a considerable extent of land of a calcareous nature; and when the young oaks have attained the age of ten or twelve years, truffles are found in the intervals between the trees. This process was carried on in the neighbourhood of Loudun, where truffle-beds had formerly existed, but where they had long ceased to be productive--a fact indicating the aptitude of the soil for the purpose. In this case no attempt was made to produce truffles by placing ripe specimens in the earth, but they sprang up themselves from spores probably contained in the soil. The young trees were left rather wide apart, and were cut, for the first time, about the twelfth year after sowing, and afterwards at intervals of from seven to nine years. Truffles were thus obtained for a period of from twenty-five to thirty years, after which the plantations ceased to be productive, owing, it was said, to the ground being too much shaded by the branches of the young trees. It is the opinion of the Messrs. Tulasne that the regular cultivation of the truffle in gardens can never be so successful as this so-called indirect culture at Loudun, but they think that a satisfactory result might be obtained in suitable soils by planting fragments of mature truffles in wooded localities, taking care that the other conditions of the spots selected should be analogous to those of the regular truffle-grounds, and they recommend a judicious thinning of the trees and clearing the surface from brushwood, etc., which prevents at once the beneficial effects of rain and of the direct sun's rays. A truffle collector stated to Mr. Broome that whenever a plantation of beech, or beech and fir, is made on the chalk districts of Salisbury Plain, after the lapse of a few years truffles are produced, and that these plantations continue productive for a period of from ten to fifteen years, after which they cease to be so.

M. Gasparin reported to the jurors of the Paris Exhibition of 1855, concerning the operations of M. Rousseau, of Carpentras, on the production of oak truffles in France. The acorns of evergreen and of common oaks were sown about five yards apart. In the fourth year of the plantation three truffles were found; at the date of the report the trees were nine years old, and over a yard in height. Sows were employed to search for the truffles. Although these plantations consist both of the evergreen and common oak, truffles cannot be gathered at the base of the latter species, it so happening that it arrives later at a state of production. The common oak, however, produces truffles like the evergreen oak, this report states, for a great number of the natural truffle-grounds at Vaucluse are planted with common oaks. It is remarked that the truffles produced from these are larger but less regular than those of the evergreen oak, which are smaller, but nearly always spherical. The truffles are gathered at two periods of the year; in May only white truffles are to be found, which never blacken and have no odour; they are dried and sold for seasoning. The black truffles (Tuber melanosporum) commence forming in June, enlarging towards the frosty season; then they become hard, and acquire all their perfume. They are dug a month before and a month after Christmas. It is also asserted that truffles are produced about the vine, or at any rate that the association of the vine is favourable to the production of truffles, because truffle-plots near vines are very productive. The observation of this decided M. Rousseau to plant a row of vines between the oaks. The result of this experiment altogether does not appear to have been by any means flattering, for at the end of eight years only little more than fifteen pounds were obtained from a hectare of land, which, if valued at 45 francs, would leave very little profit. M. Rousseau also called attention to a meadow manured (sic) with parings of truffles, which was said to have given prodigious results.

The cultivation of minute fungi for scientific purposes has been incidentally alluded to and illustrated in foregoing chapters, and consequently will not require such full and particular details here. Somewhat intermediately, we might allude to the species of Sclerotium, which are usually compact, externally blackish, rounded or amorphous bodies, consisting of a cellular mass of the nature of a concentrated mycelium. Placed in favourable conditions, these forms of Sclerotium will develop the peculiar species of fungus belonging to them, but in certain cases the production is more rapid and easy than in others. In this country, Mr. F. Currey has been the most successful in the cultivation of Sclerotia. The method adopted is to keep them in a moist, somewhat warm, but equable atmosphere, and with patience await the results. The well-known ergot of rye, wheat, and other grasses may be so cultivated, and Mr. Currey has developed the ergot of the common reed by keeping the stem immersed in water. The final conditions are small clavate bodies of the order Sphæriacei, belonging to the genus Claviceps. The Sclerotium of the Eleocharis has been found in this country, but we are not aware that the Claviceps developed from it has been met with or induced by cultivation. One method recommended for this sort of experiment is to fill a garden-pot half full of crocks, over which to place sphagnum broken up until the pot is nearly full, on this to place the Sclerotia, and cover with silver sand; if the pot is kept standing in a pan of water in a warm room, it is stated that production will ensue. Ergot of the grasses will not always develop under these conditions, but perseverance may ultimately ensure success.

A species of Sclerotium on the gills of dead Agarics originates Agaricus tuberosus, another Agaricus cirrhatus, but this should be kept in situ when cultivated artificially, and induced to develop whilst still attached to the rotten Agarics. Peziza tuberosa, in like manner, is developed from Sclerotia, usually found buried in the ground in company with the roots of Anemone nemorosa. At one time it was supposed that some relationship existed between the roots of the anemone and the Sclerotia. From another Sclerotium, found in the stems of bulrushes, Mr. Currey has developed a species of Peziza, which has been named P. Curreyana. This Peziza has been found growing naturally from the Sclerotia imbedded in the tissue of common rushes. De Bary has recorded the development of Peziza Fuckeliana from a Sclerotium of which the conidia take the form of a species of Polyactis. Peziza ciborioides is developed from a Sclerotium found amongst dead leaves; and recently we have received from the United States an allied Peziza which originated from the Sclerotia found on the petals of Magnolia, and which has been named Peziza gracilipes, Cooke, from its very slender, thread-like stem. Other species of Peziza are also known to be developed from similar bases, and these Fuckel has associated together under a proposed new genus with the name of Sclerotinia. Two or three species of Typhula, in like manner, spring from forms of Sclerotium, long known as Sclerotium complanatum and Sclerotium scutellatum. Other forms of Sclerotium are known, from one of which, found in a mushroom-bed, Mr. Currey developed Xylaria vaporaria, B., by placing it on damp sand covered with a bell glass. Others, again, are only known in the sclerotioid state, such as the Sclerotium stipitatum found in the nests of white ants in South India. From what is already known, however, we feel justified in the conclusion that the so-called species of Sclerotium are a sort of compact mycelium, from which, under favourable conditions, perfect fungi may be developed. Mr. Berkeley succeeded in raising from the minute Sclerotium of onions, which looks like grains of coarse gunpowder, a species of Mucor. This was accomplished by placing a thin slice of the Sclerotium in a drop of water under a glass slide, surrounded by a pellicle of air, and luted to prevent evaporation and external influences.

As to the cultivation of moulds and Mucors, one great difficulty has to be encountered in the presence or introduction of foreign spores to the matrix employed for their development. Bearing this in mind, extensive cultivations may be made, but the conditions must influence the decision upon the results. Rice paste has been used with advantage for sowing the spores of moulds, afterwards keeping them covered from external influences. In cultivation on rice paste of rare species, the experimenter is often perplexed by the more rapid growth of the common species of Mucor and Penicillium. Mr. Berkeley succeeded in developing up to a certain point the fungus of the Madura Foot, but though perfect sporangia were produced, the further development was masked by the outgrowth of other species. In like manner, orange juice, cut surfaces of fruits, slices of potato tubers, etc., have been employed. Fresh, horse-dung, placed under a bell glass and kept in a humid atmosphere, will soon be covered with Mucor, and in like manner the growth of common moulds upon decayed fruit may be watched; but this can hardly be termed cultivation unless the spores of some individual species are sown. Different solutions have been proposed for the growth of such conditions as the cells which induce fermentation, to which yeast plants belong. A fly attacked by Empusa muscæ, if immersed in water, will develop one of the Saprolegniæ.

The Uredines and other epiphyllous Coniomycetes will readily germinate by placing the leaf which bears them on damp sand, or keeping them in a humid atmosphere. Messrs. Tulasne and De Bary have, in their numerous memoirs, detailed the methods adopted by them for different species, both for germination of the pseudospores and for impregnating healthy foster plants. The germination of the pseudospores of the species of Podisoma may easily be induced, and secondary fruits obtained. The germination of the spores of Tilletia is more difficult to accomplish, but this may be achieved. Mr. Berkeley found no difficulty, and had the stem impregnated as well as the germen. On the other hand, the pseudospores of Cystopus, when sown in water on a slip of glass, will soon produce the curious little zoospores in the manner already described.

The sporidia of the Discomycetes, and some of the Sphæriacei, germinate readily in a drop of water on a slip of glass, although not proceeding further than the protrusion of germ-tubes. A form of slide has been devised for growing purposes, in which the large covering glass is held in position, and one end of the slip being kept immersed in a vessel of water, capillary attraction keeps up the supply for an indefinite period, so that there is no fear of a check from the evaporation of the fluid. Even when saccharine solutions are employed this method may be adopted.

The special cultivation of the Peronosporei occupied the attention of Professor De Bary for a long time, and his experiences are detailed in his memoir on that group, but which are too long for quotation here, except his observations on the development of the threads of Peronospora infestans on the cut surface of the tubers of diseased potatoes. When a diseased potato is cut and sheltered from dessication, the surface of the slice covers itself with the mycelium and conidiiferous branches of Peronospora, and it can easily be proved that these organs originate from the intercellulary tubes of the brown tissue. The mycelium that is developed upon these slices is ordinarily very vigorous; it often constitutes a cottony mass of a thickness of many millimetres, and it gives out conidiiferous branches, often partitioned, and larger and more branched than those observed on the leaves. The appearance of these fertile branches ordinarily takes place at the end of from twenty-four to forty-eight hours; sometimes, nevertheless, one must wait for many days. These phenomena are observed in all the diseased tubercles without exception, so long as they have not succumbed to putrefaction, which arrests the development of the parasite and kills it.

Young plants of the species liable to attack may be inoculated with the conidia of the species of Peronospora usually developed on that particular host, in the same manner that young cruciferous plants, watered with an infusion of the spores of Cystopus candidus, will soon exhibit evidence of attack from the white rust.

It is to the cultivation and close investigation of the growth and metamorphoses of the minute fungi that we must look for the most important additions which have yet to be made to our knowledge of the life-history of these most complex and interesting organisms.

Experiments were made at Belvoir, by Mr. Ingram, in the cultivation of several species of Agaricini, but without success, and a similar fate attended some spawn of a very superior kind from the Swan River, which was submitted to the late Mr. J. Henderson. No result was obtained at Chiswick, either from the cultivation of truffles or from the inoculation of grass-plots with excellent spawn. Mr. Disney's experiments at the Hyde, near Ingatestone, were made with dried truffles, and were not likely to succeed. The Viscomte Nôe succeeded in obtaining abundant truffles, in an enclosed portion of a wood fenced from wild boars, by watering the ground with an infusion of fresh specimens; but it is possible that as this took place in a truffle country, there might have been a crop without any manipulation. Similar trials, and it is said successfully, have been made with Boletus edulis. Specimens of prepared truffle-spawn were sent many years since to the "Gardener's Chronicle," but they proved useless, if indeed they really contained any reliable spawn.

Robinson, "On Mushroom Culture," London, 1870. Cuthill, "On the Cultivation of the Mushroom," 1861. Abercrombie, "The Garden Mushroom; its Culture, &c." 1802.

This has, however, not been confirmed, and is considered (how justly we cannot say) a "canard."

This method is pursued with great success by Mr. Ingram, at Belvoir, and by Mr. Gilbert, at Burleigh.

Cuthill, "Treatise on the Cultivation of the Mushroom," p. 9.

Mr. Berkeley lately recommended, at one of the meetings of the Horticultural Society at South Kensington, that the railway arches should be utilized for the cultivation of mushrooms.

Badham, "Esculent Funguses," 1st ed. p. 43.

Broome, "On Truffle Culture," in "Journ. Hort. Soc." i. p. 15 (1866).

No faith, however, is, in general, placed on these treatises, as they were merely conjectural.

Dr. Bull has been very successful in developing the Sclerotium of Agaricus cirrhatus.

Currey, "On Development of Sclerotium roseum," in "Journ. Linn. Soc." vol. i. p. 148.

Currey, in "Linn. Trans." xxiv. pl. 25, figs. 17, 26.

Berkeley, "On Two Tuberiform Veg. Productions from Travancore," in "Trans. Linn. Soc." vol. xxiii. p. 91.

Berkeley, "On a Peculiar Form of Mildew in Onions," "Journ. Hort. Soc." vol. iii p. 91.

De Bary, "Ann. des Sci. Nat." 4th series, vol. xx.

XIII.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.

Unfortunately no complete or satisfactory account can be given of the geographical distribution of fungi. The younger Fries, with all the facilities at his disposal which the lengthened experience and large collections of his father afforded, could only give a very imperfect outline, and now we can add very little to what he has given. The cause of this difficulty lies in the fact that the Mycologic Flora of so large a portion of the world remains unexplored, not only in remote regions, but even in civilized countries where the Phanerogamic Flora is well known. Europe, England, Scotland, and Wales are as well explored as any other country, but Ireland is comparatively unknown, no complete collection having ever been made, or any at least published. Scandinavia has also been well examined, and the northern portions of France, with Belgium, some parts of Germany and Austria, in Russia the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg, and parts of Italy and Switzerland. Turkey in Europe, nearly all Russia, Spain, and Portugal are almost unknown. As to North America, considerable advances have been made since Schweinitz by Messrs. Curtis and Ravenel, but their collections in Carolina cannot be supposed to represent the whole of the United States; the small collections made in Texas, Mexico, etc., only serve to show the richness of the country, not yet half exhausted. It is to be hoped that the young race of botanists in the United States will apply themselves to the task of investigating the Mycologic Flora of this rich and fertile region. In Central America very small and incomplete collections have as yet been made, and the same may be said of South America and Canada. Of the whole extent of the New World, only the Carolina States of North America can really be said to be satisfactorily known. Asia is still less known, the whole of our vast Indian Empire being represented by the collections made by Dr. Hooker in the Sikkim Himalayas, and a few isolated specimens from other parts. Ceylon has recently been removed from the category of the unknown by the publication of its Mycologic Flora. All that is known of Java is supplied by the researches of Junghuhn; whilst all the rest is completely unknown, including China, Japan, Siam, the Malayan Peninsula, Burmah, and the whole of the countries in the north and west of India. A little is known of the Philippines, and the Indian Archipelago, but this knowledge is too fragmentary to be of much service. In Africa no part has been properly explored, with the exception of Algeria, although something is known of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal. The Australasian Islands are better represented in the Floras published of those regions. Cuba and the West Indies generally are moderately well known from the collections of Mr. C. Wright, which have been recorded in the journal of the Linnæan Society, and in the same journal Mr. Berkeley has described many Australian species.