If you read older litterature you will discover that Manetti has been tried and tested many places in Europe, but I only know of it's actual use in Italy. There are several canina varieties still being used in Europe, maybe pfanders is more popular by some producers. I know of a small producer who only uses this one. I know other some prefere it for certain types of climbers and hybrid perpetuals, and use multiflora and laxa for other roses. The most commonly used canina varieties are very winter hardy and adjust well to both acid and alcaline soil, better than multiflora on both factors. There must be another reason why other root-stocks do better in America. I sometimes get suckers from a type of rubiginosa (the apple fragrance), and I really don't know of any of the large producers that use this rose, but it is well mentioned in the older litteratue. When I buy roses I often don't know what they are grafted on. I have a friend who propagates and used to import roses every spring. Some years there was bulk imports from Eastern Europenan countries, and the roses seemed to be budded on local growing wild roses. It is at least 6 years since the last import now. I remember the rose people was very surpriced when they discovered this. mad gallica: I checked my rose-books, and all of them mentions how the bud onion are to be buried a few inches below the ground. Now I have to tell I live in Norway and my books are Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, French, German and British. When you buy a rose in a garden center this is the advice all buyers get trown after them.

That's actually not true, gardengal. A huge number of herbaceous plants, including perennials, annuals, and grasses develop mycorrhizal relationships with a wide variety of fungi. I've seen them myself on tomatoes during one experiment, and an assortment of annuals during another. A healthy number of colonized roots can improve the growth vigor of most plants. The trick is to match the strain(s) of fungi with the kind of plant. One outstanding exception that I can remember are those plants within the Brassicaceae family. Their roots have or exude a substance that is toxic to mycorrhizae. Mycorrhizal inoculations for turfgrass can be a huge benefit, and I've seen dramatic results on golf courses during several experiments. Inoculated areas were greener with less water, fertilizer, and fungicide. Turfgrass roots very readily form mutually benefical relationships with the right fungi! I have no idea what's in this 'Mushroom Stuff', however. Never heard of it. ;-)

I wouldn't read too much into the cultural implications. This kind of festive continuous leisurely grazing happens everywhere, I think, whether in African mud huts, French farmhouses, Midwest ramblers, South American city flats, Near East townhouses, etc. I'm guessing East Asia too, though I haven't been specifically informed. I think it comes of having a lot of guests, staying, perhaps a small kitchen, no real clock driven activities, certainly a lot of good will, etc. The cooks make all their best dishes and whatever their ingredients inspire and don't let themselves get bogged down by the idea that everyone has to eat the same thing at the same time in the same quantity. They just keep cooking stuff, and the people keep eating stuff. It all sounds very fun, especially in such different surroundings!

the usual caveat with shroom ID is that its really hard to ID on pix alone ... e.g. there are too many look alikes .... so if you are looking for things to eat.. you should find a local expert or shroom hunting club .... if you are just searching for ID ... for the sake of knowledge ... close enough .... btw ... i wouldnt argue with either of those who appear to have offered the same ID ... so in this case .... who rah .... ken