"Fungus Province."

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 105, 9 April 1885, Page 4

"Fungus Province."

[By R.S.T. m Hawera Star.] So was the district stigmatised by the peripatetic correspondent of the Lyttelton Times, but the vicinity so sneered at has survived and flourished, and so has the occupation of fungus gathering. Too little importance is attached by the colonists generally to this export to China, but the bush settler who picks it, the storekeeper who buys it, and the merchant who ships it to John Chinaman know that this uncultivated crop, this spontaneous vegetable excretion from decaying wood, is as large m extent as it is peculiarly welcome to those who profit by it m the first instance. As the widow's mite was of paramount importance because it was all she had, so the earnings from fungus gatherind was larger m significance than amount, seeing that they are of assistance to those who, m many cases, have no other resources. The sturdy bushman would think it derogatory to his manhood to follow an employment which appears so unlaborious and suitable to woman and children, and all would seem to look with an eye of contempt upon so vagrant-like a pursuit as rural rambles m search of fungus. It is easy only when the fungus is dry, when wet. it is more than a man can do to carry home a day's gathering at one journey. The bush settler who has his instalments of deferred payment money to pay whilst he his cleariug his land looks upon the fungus as, if not a means of livelihood, at least as a very importanthelp at a time when his land would otherwise be unproductive of profit, and many selectors along the Mountain road between Normanby and Waitara have fungus to thank for their ability to meet payments of instalments for land, rates, taxes, and stores. So long as our highways are taken through forest land, so long also should there be no cry of mi. employed m our midst.

There are several trees on which the = parasite treated of flourishes, such as tawa (neso-daphne tawa), mahoe (melicytus ramiflorus, or whitewood), karaka (corynocarpus lavigata), patate, a kind of elder, houi (hoheria populnea, or thousand jackets), and kaiwhiria (parsonsia abifloria)' Of these the three first are the most prolific producers. Between two and three years after being felled the logs and stumps begin to show clusters of the fungus which have apparently by tlieir appearance oozed rather than grown from the pores of the wood. The growth, especially rapid m wet weather, continues until the wood is far gone m decay. In dry weather, it becomes particularly hard,and aud clings so tenaciously by its root to the parent log as to be very difficult of removal, lacerating the hands of those who attempt the task unarmed with a knife, and even with the latter weapon the operation is by ho means easy. On the contrary, when wet the whole can be taken off with ease, even to the roots which are the heaviest of the crop. Previous to the bark falling from the trunk the fungus would appear to have its roots between the skin and the tree from whence it grows through the bark; but when the latter has gone the roots are far into the solid wood and the lobes only outside. When the bark is loose the whole of the fungus is easily secured on its removal. The best time for picking fungus is when it is getting dry after wet weather, not only because it is then most plentiful, "but it is also soonest dried for, market. When thoroughly wet it is too heavy to carry, and tiresome to dry, and when thoroughly dry the roots and small, -thick, substantial lobes which are so telling at , the scale, are hardly procurable. Of course, the larger ear-like pendulous masses can be gathered, but a bag ,of large dry fungus alone will weigh but a trifle. It is most plentiful m winter, but there is the difficulty of drying it m the absence of much sun. Bush settlers who gather fungus have : - generally adopted a plan of drying it on sheets of iron over a slow fire under a shed or calico fly. In summer, when gathered wet and spread m the sun it soon dries. Cattle and sheep strip it oft' the logs and devour it with avidity when wet and succulent. Maories of some tribes boil it as an article of diet, but it is tough, tasteless, and unsatisfactory m ahe extreme, although from its glutinous nature it is probably nutritious. What Chinamen do with it is a problem which I have never, beard decidedly solved, but it is probable they use it for as many purposes, as we do gelatine. It is said that with it they adulterate birds 1 nest soup, make jujubes and other sweetmeats, a size for dying purposes, and an indestructible cement, all of which is probably correct. When picked wet it should be dried at once, for if left m bags or heaps it will heat and Bpeedily decay. The price of fungus is'very fluctuating, and is probably regulated by the sailing of ships for China. At present it is 2£d retail here, is quoted at 3d m Auckland, and is 4d wholesale m Wellington. I have seen it quoted at 9d m Sydney or Melbourne, and s|d given for it m New Plymouth ten years back, whilst it is supposed to fetch Is 6'd m Hong Kong. Whatever the price is at the port of shipment, it must be recollected that the purchaser from the person who gathers it has to find bales and pack it m them, and, besides freight, is the loser to a considerable extent by evaporation, should it not be thoroughly dry when packed. When wet one would think that nothing could hold more water, and yet it would appear that it is never so dry but what it is capable of becoming drier. A hollow tree studded with the bellshnpcd lobes of fungus, hanging m graceful pendulous fashion round

those who have the curiosity t search for it. The delicate purple or brown bloom, like that of the plum or peach, which covers the upper surface of the fungus is lost by the merest touch, so that he who sees it when gathered and dried m baskets or bags knows not its original aspect. There are many tints of the excrescence, purple and brown being common to the tawa and mahoe respectively ; whilst the occurrence of pink and creamy white are like WatertorVs Grecian-faced monkev\ though uudoubted facts, so little worth the trouble of searching for to establish them as varieties as to be thought freaks of nature. The idea is prevalent that the collector does not reap the benefit he should, that the. middlemen get too large a share, -and that the difference which exists between the price received by the first-mentioned class and that paid by the Chinamen is too large. It was thought that this, among other kindred matters, would have received attention from the Co-operative Society, and the many thousand pounds annually received for fungus m this province alone would render the matter of even Id per pound a matter of importance. The subject deserves attention, although it is believed that those who profit are not the local tradesmen..