Here is the second part about truffle dogs. I think it's as interesting as the first.
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We have questioned two experienced truffle-diggers, and gather from them the following information:
Truffle-digging gives employment to many hands during winter, and in the early months of spring lOOtb. a week is not an uncommon amount when a man has a good dog, and works hard; and instances have been known of a man digging 351b. or even 401b. in a day, where truffles were unsuspected, and the ground had not been "worked."
The truffle with a rough scaly coat, much resembling the fir-cone, these men call a " bud truffle;" the smooth-coated variety they call a "garlic truffle." Both are equally good for the table; but there is a red-sldraied truffle found deeper in the ground, which they assert to be poisonous.
Our informants stated that, some years ago, a specimen was found weighing 3jlb., and "nearly as large as a half-gallon loaf." This assertion we doubt; but we do believe they are frequently met with weighing lflb. or 2lb., though inferior in flavour to the smaller specimens.
In Italy, this fungus is hunted with a pig (a fact confirmed by Youatt); in France (as with us), the truffle-hunter depends upon his dog. The breed is rare, and the men dislike to sell them. It is said that about two hundred years ago an old Spaniard brought two dogs into Wiltshire, and made a great deal of money by the sale of truffles which his dogs found for him; and at his death he left his money and his dogs to a farmer from whom he had received some kindness, and that the present dogs are derived from those he left that farmer.
The truffle-dog is a small poodle (nearly a pure poodle), and weighing about 151b. He is white, or black-and-white, or black, with the black mouth and under-lip of his race. He is a sharp, intelligent, quaint companion, and has the "homeing" faculty of a pigeon. When sold to a new master he has been known to find his way home for sixty miles, and to have travelled the greater part of the way by night.
He is mute in his quest, and should be thoroughly broken from all game. These are essential qualities in a dog whose owner frequently hunts truffles at night—in the shrubberies of mansions protected by keepers and watchmen, who regard him with suspicion. In order to distinguish a black dog on these occasions, the hunter furnishes his animal with a white shirt, and occasionally also hunts him in a line.
These dogs are rather longer on the leg than the true poodle, but have exquisite noses, and hunt close to the ground. On the scent of a truffle (especially in the morning or evening, when it gives out most smell), they show all the keenness of a spaniel, working their short-cropped tails, and feathering along the surface of the ground for from twenty to fifty yards. Arrived at the spot where the fungus lies buried, some two or three inches beneath the surface, they dig like a terrier at a rat's hole, and the best of them, if let alone, will disinter the fungus and carry it to his master. It is not usual, however, to allow the dog to exhaust himself in this way, and the owner forks up the truffle and gives the dog his usual reward, a piece of bread or cheese; for this he looks, from long habit, with tho keen glance of a Spanish gipsy.
The truffle-hunter is set up in business when he possesses a good dog; all he requires besides will be a short staff", about 2ft. 5in. long, shod with a strong iron ppint, and at the other end furnished with a two-fanged iron hook. With this implement he can dig the largest truffle, or draw aside the briers or boughs in copse-wood to give his dog free scope to use his nose. He travels frequently thirty or forty miles on his hunting expeditions; and with this (to use a business term) inexpensive "plant" keeps a wife and children easily. We know personally one blue grizzled dog of the old truffle breed which supports a family of ten children.
The truffle dog is a delicate animal to rear, and a choice feeder. Being continually propagated from one stock, he has become peculiarly susceptible of all dog diseases, and when that fatal year comes round which desolates the kennel in his quarter, many truffle hunters are left destitute of dogs and consequently short of bread; for they will not believe (as we believe) that any dog with a keen nose and lively temper may be taught to hunt and find truffles.
The education of the dog commences when he is about three months old. At first he is taught to fetch a truffle, and when he does this well and cheerfully, his master places it on the ground, and slightly covers it with earth, selecting one of peculiar fragrance for the purpose. As the dog becomes more expert and keen for the amusement, he buries the truffle deeper, and rewards him in proportion to his progress. He then takes him where he knows truffles to be abundant, or where they have been previously found by a well-broken animal, and marked. Thus he gradually learns his trade, and becomes (as his forefathers have been for many generations) the bread-winner for his master and his master's family; unless he is so fortunate as to become attache to some lordly mansion, or possibly to a royal palace, in which case he is a fortunate dog indeed.
The supply of truffles is uncertain, and the price varies from tenpence to thirty shillings a pound.
In the summer months we have found them, not with a dog, for at this season they have little smell, but from a peculiar cracking of the ground. We have more than once marked the place with a stick, and examined the specimen from time to time. On one occasion we left a truffle from July to November, and could discover no perceptible alteration in its size. Frost destroys those exposed to its influence, and the very old, or very large, or frosted truffles are frequently infested by small brown insects. We have given the result of our inquiries and experience. We must refer our readers for further information to a work of which we have heard, although we have not been able to procure it, "Badham's Esculent Fungi."
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I hope you enjoyed, and may you have an excellent day!
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