Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1881 — A Trade in Fungus. [ARTICLE]

A Trade in Fungus.

The Colonies »nd India. Among the various articles offraie exported from,New— Calami, -perhaps the most curmtis i-* a *;>• cies or ; which grows on decaying tretsm all parts of tire North Island; but most plentifully in the provincial dUtiiotof Taranaki. Jn shape this fungus resembles the human ear, and it is of a brown color aud semi-transparent when , fresh. It is not deemed of sufficient I importance to be included in the list of ' colonial exuorts uutil 1872, when fiftyeight tons the value of which was £1,927, were shioped: in 1877, 220 tons valued at £11,318, were exported; and* last year the value of the ex (tort was £0,225. China is the destination of this product It is much prized there as an article of food, -forming tne chief ingredient of the favorite soup of that country on account -of its gelatinous properties and its peculiar flavor. Whether the immigrant Chinese, who were more numerous iu New Zealand five years ago than they are now, discovered the virtues of this fuugoid growth, or whether the Maoris, with heir natura'ly keen wit, hit upon the idea th*t the sulw'auce- would suit the peculiar tastes of the Chinese, does not appear. Tue Europeans in tnecolouy, bowevtsr, have never acquired a taste tor it To prepare this fungus for export nothing more is required than to pick it/torn the truuks of the trees and dry it in the air or under sheds. When dry it i-* pacxed in bags and shipped to China by way of Sydney or San Francisco.