Chapter XI: Front Matter (11)

287. _ICELAND LICHEN_ (Lichen islandicus) _is a leafy, membranous,
vegetable production, of brownish green colour, jagged at the edges, and
fringed, having large and purplish brown saucers or shields._

The name of this lichen is derived from that of the island in which it chiefly grows. It is, however, also found in the Highlands of Scotland, and in some of the northern parts both of England and Wales.

It abounds with nutritious mucilage; and, after having been steeped in water to extract its bitter and laxative qualities, it is sometimes used as medicine in coughs and consumptions. One ounce of Iceland lichen, boiled in a pint of water, yields about seven ounces of mucilage. The inhabitants of Iceland prepare from it a kind of gruel, which they mix with milk. They also boil it in several waters, and then dry and make it into bread. In Germany a durable brown dye is made by means of it; and, under another mode of preparation, it imparts an excellent black tinge to white woollen yarn.

288. _BLADDER FUCUS_ (Fucus vesiculosus) _is a species of sea-weed, of
flat shape, with a middle rib, the edges entire, forked, and sometimes
tumid at the ends, and furnished with several air bladders imbedded in
the substance of the plant._

By far the most important application of this, one of the commonest of all our marine plants, is for the making of _kelp_, which, in Scotland, affords employment to many industrious families. So lucrative and so highly esteemed is the bladder fucus, and some other plants nearly allied to it, that the natives of several parts of the Western Islands have rolled large masses of stone into the sea, with a view to promote and extend their growth.

For the preparation of kelp these plants are dried, by exposure for some time to the sun and air. They are then burnt by degrees in a kelp furnace, which is generally a round hole dug in the earth. When the furnace is nearly filled with the remains of the burnt sea-weeds, the whole is briskly agitated with a rake or hook, till it is compacted, or becomes of a shining glutinous consistence, in appearance not unlike melted iron. It is then allowed to cool, and is afterwards placed in storehouses for exportation. In this state it is an impure kind of carbonat of soda. In the Orkney Islands every consideration is sacrificed to the making of kelp, nearly 3,000 tons of which are annually sent to market and sold at Leith, Newcastle, and other places, at the rate of from seven to ten pounds per ton of twenty-one hundred weight.

The inhabitants of Gothland boil this plant with coarse meal, as food for swine; and the poorer classes of Scania thatch their cottages with it, and also employ it as fuel. In the Hebrides it is customary to dry cheese, without using any salt, by covering it with the ashes of the bladder fucus, which abound in saline particles. This and other sea-weeds serve as a winter food for cattle, which regularly frequent the shores for them at the ebb of the tide: they are also used as manure for land.

A soapy liquor which is found in the bladders of this plant is sometimes externally applied as a medicine for dispersing scrofulous and scorbutic swellings, by simply bruising them in the hand and rubbing them on the parts affected. When this plant is calcined or burnt in the open air, a black and saline powder is produced, which, under the name of _vegetable æthiops_, has been recommended as a dentrifice, and for other uses.

289. _EATABLE WINGED FUCUS, or BLADDERLOCKS_ (Fucus esculentus), _is a
simple, undivided, and sword-shaped sea-weed, which is olive-coloured,
and sometime several yards in length_. _Its stem is four-cornered, runs
through the whole length of the leaf, and is winged at the base._

This plant, which is very common on some of the shores of Scotland, and also on those of Cornwall, and several parts of North Wales, is a grateful food to cattle; and its stalk, when boiled, constitutes a very favourite dish in Scotland. The proper season for gathering it is the month of September, when it is in higher perfection than at any other time of the year.

290. _SWEET FUCUS_ (Fucus saccharinus) _is a simple, undivided, and
sword-shaped sea-weed, without any rib, of leathery consistence, and
tawny green colour; and frequently five or six feet in length_. _Its
stalk is round and hard._

This plant abounds on all our sea-shores: and, if slightly washed from the sea-water, and dried in the air, it becomes covered with a sweet powdery efflorescence. It is edible either in a raw state, or boiled as a pot-herb. Sometimes it is hung up to serve the purpose of an hygrometer, which it does in some degree by becoming flaccid during a moist state of the atmosphere, and hard in dry weather.

291. _DULSE, or RED PALMATE FUCUS_ (Fucus palmatus), _is a flat,
membranous, and hand-shaped, sea-weed, of brownish crimson colour, smooth
on both sides, and without any mid-rib._

In the markets of Edinburgh, and other parts of Scotland, this plant, which is common on most of the British shores, is exposed for sale as an article of food. After having been washed in fresh water, it is eaten raw, by itself, in salad, or by poor people with other provisions. Sometimes it is boiled and used as a pot-herb. If gradually dried, it gives out a whitish powdery substance, which covers the whole plant, and has a sweet and agreeable taste, somewhat resembling that of violets. In this state it is frequently packed in casks for exportation. Some persons chew it as tobacco. In Scotland it is occasionally used as a medicine, and it is supposed to sweeten the breath and destroy worms.

292. _GREEN or EDIBLE LAVER_ (Ulva lactuca) _is a thin, membranous,
pellucid, and green vegetable substance, which is found on rocks, stones,
and shells, in the sea and salt-water ditches in nearly all parts of
Great Britain._

Of late years this plant, stewed with lemon juice, has been introduced to the tables of the luxurious, as a sauce to be eaten with roast meat. Though in a recent state it has a salt and bitterish flavour, and even when thus prepared is not always relished at first, yet by habit most persons become partial to it. The laver which is consumed in London is chiefly prepared in the west of England, and packed in pots in a state ready for the table. Some persons use laver medicinally, and it is esteemed wholesome for scrofulous habits; but it can scarcely be taken in sufficient quantity to do much good, without having too strong an effect on the bowels.

293. _The MORELL_ (Phallus esculentus, Fig. 84) _is a kind of fungus with
a naked and wrinkled stem, and an egg-shaped head, full of cells on its
external surface._

As an ingredient for thickening and heightening the flavour of sauces and soups, morells, which are chiefly found in woods and hedges in a loamy soil, are in great esteem. For this purpose, after they are gathered, they are strung upon pack-thread to be dried; and, when dry, they may be kept without injury for many months.

In Germany, the persons employed in gathering morells found that they always grew most abundantly in woods that had been burnt: and, with a view of promoting their increase, they were accustomed to set fire to the woods, until this practice was prohibited by the Government. Useful and palatable as these plants are, it has been ascertained that, if gathered after having been exposed for some days to wet weather, they are extremely pernicious.

294. _The TRUFFLE_ (Tuber cibarium) _is a globular, solid, and warty
fungus, without root, which grows at the depth of four or five inches
beneath the surface of the earth, and is from the size of a pea to that
of a potatoe._

This, one of the best of the edible funguses, is chiefly found in hilly woods and pastures, which have a sandy or clayey bottom; and occurs on the downs of Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Kent. Truffles are generally discovered by means of dogs, which are taught to hunt for them by scent; and wherever they smell one of them, they bark, and scratch it up. In Italy they are hunted, in somewhat similar manner, by pigs.

Truffles are either served at table roasted in a fresh state like potatoes, or they are cut into slices and dried, as an ingredient for sauces and soups. Those that are most delicious are internally of white colour, and have somewhat the odour of garlic.

In England truffles seldom exceed the weight of four or five ounces; whilst on the Continent they are known to weigh as much as fifteen or sixteen ounces each.

295. _The PUFF-BALL_ (Lycoperdon bovista) _is a round kind of fungus,
which is filled with a soft whitish flesh when young, and a fine brown
powder when ripe._

The _powder_ of the puff-ball is sometimes used as a styptic, to prevent the bleeding of recent wounds. This powder is extremely subtile, and is very injurious to the eyes. Instances have occurred of persons who, having had it blown into their face, have thereby been deprived of their sight for a considerable time; and have also been affected with violent pain and inflammation.

There is a curious experiment of taking a shilling from the bottom of a vessel of water, without wetting the hand. This is said to be effected by strewing a small quantity of the dust of the puff-ball on the surface; it so strongly repels the fluid as to form a covering for the fingers, and defend them from the contact of the water.

The fumes of the puff-ball, when burnt, have a powerfully narcotic quality; and, on this account, they are sometimes used to take the combs from hives without destroying the bees.

296. _The COMMON MUSHROOM_ (Agaricus campestris) _is a fungus consisting
of a white cylindrical stalk and a convex cover of white or brownish
colour, which has beneath an irregular arrangement of gills, pinky when
young, but afterwards of dark liver colour._

_When it first appears above ground the mushroom is smooth and nearly
globular, and in this state it is called a_ button.

In England mushrooms are in great demand for the table. They are found wild in parks, and other pastures where the turf has not been ploughed for many years; and the best time for gathering them is in the months of August and September.

They are eaten fresh, either stewed or broiled; and are preserved for use either by drying, by being pickled, or in powder. They are also employed in making the well-known sauce called mushroom ketchup. As an article of food, however, mushrooms are by no means wholesome, being so tough, and having so great a resemblance to soft leather, as to be almost indigestible. This is particularly the case when they are of large size.

Mushrooms may be raised artificially on beds constructed for the purpose, even in cellars; for if they have only warmth and moisture, the plants will vegetate without light; but the most proper situations for them are under sheds in the open air. The plants thus grown, however, have more toughness than such as grow wild in the fields; and, in other respects, are much inferior to them.

297. There is a kind of mushroom (_Agaricus georgii_) which is yellowish, with yellowish white gills, and when full grown is sometimes so large as to measure eighteen inches across. This is occasionally eaten, but, in many instances, the use of it has been attended with injurious consequences.

298. In Covent Garden market a tall and spongy kind of mushroom (_Agaricus procerus_), with white gills, and a large horizontal ring round the stem, is frequently exposed for sale about the month of September.

299. On hedge-banks, in pastures, and in what are called fairy-rings, there is a species of mushroom (_Agaricus orcades_), with brownish or watery white gills, two or four in a set, a pale brown, convex, and irregular cover, and a whitish stem. These are considered by many persons to be the _champignons_ of the French cooks. They have a much higher flavour than the common mushroom: but from their leathery nature are indigestible, except in the form of powder, with sauces, or in ketchup, in all of which they are very admirable.

With respect to the plants of the mushroom tribe, it ought to be observed that, though several of them are edible, many are extremely poisonous. Instances of the fatal effects arising from an indiscriminate adoption of them are innumerable. Great caution, therefore, is requisite that such only shall be used as are ascertained to be wholesome, particularly as, in many instances, the poisonous species can scarcely be distinguished by the eye from such as are innoxious. In cases of injury arising from poisonous funguses, the best remedy that can be administered is an emetic.

300. _SPUNK, or TOUCHWOOD_ (Boletus igniarius), _is a fungus somewhat
shaped like a horse's hoof, with pores on the under side, and the upper
part very hard and smooth, but marked with circular bands or ridges of
different colours._

_It grows horizontally on the trunks and large branches of several kinds
of trees, when old and decayed._

In Germany, and in some parts of England, this fungus is used as tinder, for which, on account of its readily catching fire, it is well adapted. It is prepared by being boiled in a strong ley, dried, and again boiled in a solution of salt-petre. In Franconia pieces of the inner substance of the spunk are beaten so as to resemble leather, and are sewed together for making garments. The inhabitants of Lapland frequently burn it about their cottages, to keep off a species of gad-fly which is peculiarly injurious to the young rein-deer.

This fungus is often employed as a styptic for the stopping of blood. When intended for this use, the exterior hard substance is pared off, and the coat underneath is separated from the porous part, and well beaten with a hammer, until it becomes pliable. Thus prepared it is kept dry, in slices of convenient size, for use; and, although it is not so much esteemed in this country as it was some years ago, many of the continental surgeons have a very high opinion of its efficacy.

INDEX

TO THE

SECOND VOLUME.

----

Abele. See Poplar, great white.
Acacia, 262
Acorns, uses of, 223
Alder, wood, bark, branches, and leaves, uses of, 211
Alkanet, description, properties, and uses of, 42
Alligator pear, description and uses of, 120
All-spice. See Pimento.
Almond, common or sweet, description of, 140
----, whence obtained, how imported, and uses of, 140
----, oil and milk of, how prepared, 141
----, bitter, description and uses of, 141
Aloe, American, description, culture, and uses of, 96, 97
Aloes, description of several kinds, 93, 94
----, leaves, stems, and juice, uses of, 93, 94
----, Socotrine, description, culture, preparation, and uses of, 94
----, Barbadoes, common, or hepatic, 95
----, Caballine, or horse, 96
Anise-seeds, description and uses of, 81
Apple, fruit and wood, uses of, 147, 148
Apricot, fruit, kernels, gum, and wood, uses of, 143
Archell, description and use of, 270
Areca, description and uses of, 231, 232
Arnatto, or annotta, description of, how prepared, and uses of, 157
Arrack, from what prepared, 106, 218
Arrow-root, what it is, how prepared, and uses of, 9, 10
----, how adulterated, 10
Artichoke, flowers, leaves, and stalks, uses of, 197
----, Jerusalem, description, culture, and uses of, 201
Arum, common, description and uses of, 218, 219
Asafoetida, description and uses of, 77
----, how obtained and exported, 77, 78
Ash-tree, wood, leaves, and bark, uses of, 264
Asparagus, description, cultivation, and uses of, 92, 93
Aspen. See Poplar, trembling.

B.
Balsam, Friar's, or Turlington's, from what made, 130
Bamboo canes, description and uses of, 100, 101
Banana, description and uses of, 269
Barberry, fruit, bark, and roots, uses of, 100
Barilla, description of, and how prepared for use, 73
Barley, cultivation and uses of, 27
----, pearl, how made, and uses of, 28
----, sugar, how made, 22
Bay, common sweet, description and uses of, 119, 120
Bay plum. See Guava.
Beans, culture and uses of, 184
Beech-tree, wood, fruit, and leaves, uses of, 220
Beet, description and uses of, 71, 72
Benjamin, gum. See Benzoin.
Bent-grass, 32
Benzoin, description of, how prepared, and uses of, 129, 131
Bergamot, how prepared, 195
Betel, what it is, and use of, 15
Betel-nut. See Areca.
Bilberries, uses of, 113
Birch-tree, wood, bark, twigs, leaves, and sap, uses of, 210
Bird-lime, how made, uses and properties of, 41
Blackberries, uses of, 152
Bleaberries. See Bilberries.
Blend-corn, 28
Boabab. See Sour gourd.
Bore cole, 176
Bottle gourd, description and uses of, 209
Box-tree, value and uses of, 215
Brake, description and uses of, 268
Bran, uses of, 26
Brandy, whence obtained, and how made, 69
----, distilled from potatoes and carrots, 55, 75
Brank. See Buck wheat.
Bread, prepared from turnips, arum roots, acorns, cassava, and sago, 175,
219, 224, 239, 256
Bread-fruit, description and uses of, 203, 204
----, tree, bark, juice, and flowers, uses of, 204, 205
Brocoli, 176
Broom, common, twigs, seeds, bark, &c., uses of, 181
----, Spanish, description and uses of, 181
Buck-bean, or bog-bean, description and uses of, 43
Buck-thorn, syrup, and bark, uses of, 56
Buck-wheat, description, cultivation, and uses of, 114
Bullace plums, description and uses of, 144
---- cheese, from what prepared, 144
Bull-rush, uses of, 31
Burgundy wine, 64
Burgundy pitch, of what made, and uses of, 236