FOOD VALUE OF MUSHROOMS.

Rollrausch and Siegel, who claim to have made exhaustive investigations into the food values of mushrooms, state that "many species deserve to be placed beside meat as sources of nitrogenous nutriment," and their analysis, if correct, fully bears out the statement. They find in 100 parts of dried Morchella esculenta 35.18 per cent. of protein; in Helvella esculenta, 26.31 per cent. of protein, from 46 to 49 per cent. of potassium salts and phosphoric acid, 2.3 per cent. of fatty matter, and a considerable quantity of sugar. The Boletus edulis they represent as containing in 100 parts of the dried substance 22.82 per cent. of protein. The nitrogenous values of different foods as compared with the mushroom are stated as follows: "Protein substances calculated for 100 parts of bread, 8.03; of oatmeal, 9.74; of barley bread, 6.39; of leguminous fruits, 27.05; of potatoes, 4.85; of mushrooms, 33.0."

According to Schlossberger and Depping, in 100 grams of dried mushrooms they found the following proportions of nitrogenous substances:

Varieties.Grains.

Chanterelles3.22

Certain Russulas4.25

Lactarius deliciosus4.68

Boletus edulis4.25

Meadow mushroom7.26

But all chemists are not agreed as to these proportions. For instance, Lefort has found 3.51 grains of nitrogenous matter in the cap of Agaricus campestris, 2.1 grains in the gills and only 0.34 of a grain in the stem. Payen has found 4.68 grains in Agaricus campestris, 4.4 grains in the common Morel (Morchella esculenta), 9.96 grains in the white truffle, and 8.76 grains in the black.

A much larger proportion of the various kinds of mushrooms are edible than is generally supposed, but a prejudice has grown up concerning them in this country which it will take some time to eradicate. Notwithstanding the occurrence of occasional fatal accidents through the inadvertent eating of poisonous species, fungi are largely consumed both by savage and civilized man in all parts of the world, and while they contribute so considerable a portion of the food product of the world we may be sure their value will not be permanently overlooked in the United States, especially when we consider our large accessions of population from countries in which the mushroom is a familiar and much prized edible. In Italy the value of the mushroom as an article of diet has long been understood and appreciated. Pliny, Galen, and Dioscorides mention various esculent species, notably varieties of the truffle, the boletus and the puff-ball, and Vittadini writes enthusiastically of the gastronomic qualities of a large number of species. Of late years large quantities have been sold in the Italian markets. Quantities of mushrooms are also consumed in Germany, Hungary, Russia, France, and Austria.

Darwin speaks of Terra del Fuego as the only country where cryptogamic plants form a staple article of food. A bright-yellow fungus allied to Bulgarin forms, with shellfish, the staple food of the Fuegians. In England the common meadow mushroom Agaricus campestris is quite well known and used to a considerable extent among the people, but there is not that general knowledge of and use of other species which obtains in Continental Europe.

In the English-speaking countries much has been done by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, Dr. M. C. Cooke, Worthington G. Smith, Rev. John Stevenson, Prof. Hay, Prof. Chas. H. Peck, Prof. W. J. Farlow, and others, including the various mushroom clubs, to disseminate a more general knowledge on this subject.

Late investigations show that nearly all the species common to the countries of Continental Europe, and of Great Britain, are found in different localities in the United States, and a number of species have been found which have not been described in European works.

The geographical distribution of many species of the mushroom family is very wide. We have had specimens of the Morel, for instance, sent to us from California and Washington, on the Pacific coast, and as far north as Maine, on the Atlantic, as well as from the southern and the midwestern States, and the same is true of other species. The season of their appearance varies somewhat according to the latitude and altitude of place of growth. Mushrooms are rarely seen after the first heavy frosts, although an exception is noted in this latitude in the species Hypholoma sublatertium, which has been found growing under the snow, at the roots of trees in sheltered woods. Frozen mushrooms of this and closely allied species have revived when thawed, and proved quite palatable when cooked.

At the present time only two species, Agaricus campester and Agaricus arvensis, are cultivated in America. Some attempts have been made by an amateur mushroom club in Ohio to cultivate the Morel, but the results have not, so far, been reported. In the meantime, however, it is well to utilize the wild mushrooms as fast as the collector can satisfactorily identify them. The woods of all moist regions of this country abound with edible varieties. Prof. Curtis, of North Carolina, gives a list of over one hundred edible species found in that State alone, and nearly all of these occur in our Northern States as well. It is not contended that this list includes all the species which may be eaten, nor have all of these equal value from a gastronomic point of view. Some are insipid as to flavor, and others are too tough or too slimy to please the popular taste.