Fungi are a very ancient article of food

and they are extensively eaten on the European Continent by all cla es. Among Anglo-Saxons they are rejected by the ma es, with the exception of a very few species. The species commonly cultivated, the mushroom proper, is the Agaric us campestris which grows wild in old fields and pastures, but is propagated by planting its spawn which is the mycelium of the plant, in hotbeds. Though this is the most widely used, many other species are equally excellent. The truffle (Tuber cibarium) grows beneath the ground, and is eaten with avidity by different animals. Dogs are “trained to scent it out by those who collect truffles for market. Many species known to be at times poisonous are eaten in different countries in different ways. ‘They are dried, pickled, salted, and cooked in an endle variety of fashions, Some of the most virulent poisons are found among fungi, and many fatal accidents have arisen from the eating of poisonous species. Rye meal containing large quantities of ergot produces a fatal gangrenous disease.