ally decays.

It varies in size from a few inches to several feet in circumference.
Rev. M. J. Berkeley mentions one which weighed thirty pounds. It has
been styled, the "_poor man's fungus_," and in flavor resembles meat
more than any other.

The substance is fleshy and juicy in the early stage. The pileus is
papillose, the papillae elongated, and forming distinct tubes as the
pileus expands. These tubes are separable from each other, and with age
become approximate and jagged at their orifices. The tubes are at first
yellowish, with a pink tinge, becoming dingy with age. The fleshy
substance, or hymenophore, is often veined in light and dark red
streaks. The juice is pellucid, red, and slightly acid. Spores at first
nearly round, becoming elliptical, salmon color.

This fungus is esteemed in Europe, where it is eaten prepared in a
variety of ways.

When young and tender it can be sliced and broiled or minced and stewed,
making a delicious dish. When too old the stock is rather tough for good
eating, but the gravy taken from it forms a rich flavoring for a
vegetable stew or a meat ragout. The following recipe for cooking this
mushroom has been recommended:

Slice and macerate it, add pepper and salt, a little lemon, and
chopped onions or garlic; then strain and boil the liquid, which
makes most excellent gravy, resembling that of good beefsteak.

The Fistulina hepatica is well known in Europe, and is found in
different parts of the United States, in some places growing abundantly.
I have gathered some fine specimens in Maryland and Virginia, but none
as large as that described by Dr. Berkeley.

RECIPES FOR COOKING MUSHROOMS.

_To Pot Mushrooms._--The small open mushrooms suit best for potting.
Trim and rub them; put into a stewpan a quart of mushrooms, 3 ounces of
butter, 2 teaspoonfuls of salt, and half a teaspoonful of cayenne and
mace, mixed, and stew for ten or fifteen minutes, or till the mushrooms
are tender; take them carefully out and drain them perfectly on a
sloping dish, and when cold press them into small pots and pour
clarified butter over them, in which state they will keep for a week or
two. Writing-paper placed over the butter, and over that melted suet,
will effectually preserve them for weeks in a dry, cool place.

_To Pickle Mushrooms._--Select a number of sound, small pasture
mushrooms, as nearly alike as possible in size. Throw them for a few
minutes into cold water,