TRUFFLES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 339, 15 June 1869, Page 3

TRUFFLES.

o A correspondent writes for information to the Gardener's Chronicle as to the best mode of setting about the acclimatisation of truffles in Australia. " If," says he, " there were any reasonable prospect of success, I would gladly make an effort to present the colony with tliis very favourite edible. Not but that we have got on very well thus far without it, and with good appetites and plenty of cheap and excellent food, we are as independent as most people of this kind of delicacy ; but as I see it is very much run upon by those who are the best judges of good eating and drinking — and it has certainly a special and excellent flavour — it seems -well -worth vrhile to have it, if it cau be done. I believe that there is some uncertainty about its mode of fructification, and it might be difficult to get it such a distance in so moist a condition as to preserve its fertility ; but more difficult things than this have got out safely, and there should be no insuperable difficulty, one would think, about the truffle. It has been suggested to me to send out fresh truffles, surrounded with a few hundredweight of the earth in which they are found, placing the whole in as nearly a corresponding site as possible on arrival." We should feel extremely glad (the paper replies) if we could hold out any fair prospect of success as regards the subject of the above letter on the acclimatisation of truffles. Though, however, every trial has failed in this country, and we may almost say the same of the Continent, there is no reason -nrhy attempts at the propagation of truffles should be as unsuccessful in Australia. The method suggested is a good one, aud well worthy of adoption, but there is no chance of success unless the experiment be made in a calcareous soil, which seems to be a sine qua non in Europe. It is getting rather late fo 1 trufflles and we should be inclined to wait till the end of the year, when they have just arrived at maturity. Specimens obtained at this season would probably rot before ther reached their destination. We should moreover, recommend that the experiment should not be confined to English truffles. It is possible that the French truffle, tuber melanospermum, which might be procured in auy quantity in France, might succeed better than our tuber aestivum, and its aroma is far more powerful. If French truffles are employed it would be well not only to import with them a quantity of their native soil, but some ripe acorns, as they seem to be fond of oak roots, though they are certainly not parasites upon them. It is very true that a common practice in Touraine is simply to enclose a piece of ground and sow it with acorns, and in the course of a few years there is sure to be an abundant crop of truffles. It is often said that the acorns must be obtained from truffle grounds, but we believe that there is not the slightest foundation for this opinion. Beech seems more favourable to the growth of tuber ajstivum, and it would be easy to put some beech mast amongst the soil, which might possibly retain its vegetative powers. The fructification of truffles is well known, but what is not well understood are the circumstances under which their sporidia vegetate, and the exact nature of the spawn. It is this circumstance, perhaps, which at present baffles all attempts at cultivation. If, however, truffles arrived in Australia in good condition, accompanied by a quantity of soil, and were planted in some bare spot in the scrub, always supposing the soil to be calcareous, it is very possible, if the ground could be protected from animals, that they might succeed. Squirrels are great enemies to truffles in this country; they are attracted by the powerful scent, and we should fear that they might not prove altogether distasteful to some of the Australian animals. — M. J. B. The following extract from Land and Water throws additional light upon this subject:— "Paris, March 10. " At the last sitting of the Acclimatisation Society a communication from M. Chatin, on the propagation of truffles, was read. The importance of this branch of agriculture may be estimated from the fact that the annual production of truffles Ls valued at from fifteen to sixteen million francs. M. Chatin first proceeded to establish that truffles are never found in flint or granite, but always in limestone soils, and he cited numerous examples of tliis peculiarity. He then remarked that, in the cultivation of the truffle, it was not necessary to make use of rich land, nor to employ manure, and he blamed the habit which has been adopted in some parts of the country of throwing the peeling of the truffle on the surface of the land where truffles aro found. In the neighbourhood of Carpentras there existed a property of about thirty acres of very indifferent soil, which produced from lOf to 12f an acre ; the proprietor planted oak trees, and the produce soon rose to about 300 f, or £12 an acre. M. Chatin asked what climate was necessary for the truffle, and proceeded to reply to his query in this manner: — It may be accepted as a general rule that the truffle can be produced wherever the vine flourishes, and even in higher latitudes. More than forty French departments are truffle bearing. The truffle grows under the influence of nearly all our forest trees, but is never found under the chestnut nor the

poplar. The pubescent and the holly oak are the trees in which it most delights, and both appear to be in equal favour in the southern departments of Provence, Poiton, and Perigord, which furnish us with the best flavoured tubers. The most indispensable conditions for the development of the truffle are air and sun. An opinion has taken root in the country that truffles will not grow ! under an oak more than twenty years of age, the fact being that such trees have an amount of foliage which prevents air and sun penetrating to the spot where the truffle lies. In order to establish a truffle bed, one should first choose the proper soil and theu sow acorns iv lines running north and south, so that the sun may penetrate ; there should be a distance of about ten yards between the lines, and of 3ft between the acorns. After five or six years the grass begins to dry up round the trees, and this indicates the presence of truffles. At the end of eight years such oak trees as do not mark the preseuce of tubers may be removed. M. Chatin terminated his paper with a statement that he intends laying down a truffle bed on some land situated between Versailles and Rambouillet, and consequently at an easy distance from Paris. This paper ought to tempt Englishmen with light soil to improve the value of their land, a rise from lOf to 300 f an acre being the kind of thing few fellows would object to."