698 MONOECIA TETRANDRIA, Morus. 
ped of its leaves twice.. The latter mode is practised during 
the rains, when cutting the plants would injure them, by the 
water penetrating the cut parts; besides, by having the ~ 
branches at this season at their full length, there is less 
danger of their being overflowed during inundations of the 
Ganges. 
_ A plantation once formed, requires no great labour to keep 
it in order, as the close luxuriant growth of the plants keeps 
the weeds pretty well under ; however, it is necessary to dress 
the ground now and then, and to earth up the plants while 
young, or when the rain washes away the earth, The ground 
is generally so moist at all tines of the year in Bengal, as to 
render irrigation almost unnecessary ; an advantage the coast 
of Coromandel cannot boast of, and which will ever render it 
impossible for that country to cultivate silk at as low a rate 
as is donein Bengal. For this plant a light, rich, elevated soil _ 
is made choice of; for the Hindoo cultivators say clayey 
ground, or such as allows the water to settle about the roots 
of the plants, will not do. The plantation, ihey say, requires 
to be renewed once in three or four years, to insure a succes- 
sion of the best leaves. Cuttings are employed, and planted 
about the close of the rains, in rows three feet asunder, and 
about half that distance in the rows. : 
5.-M. tatarica, Willd. iv. 369. 
~ Dioecous, arboreous. Leaves cordate serrate, rather ob- 
tuse, mostly entire, though sometimes sinuate, or even lobate. 
- This small tree I have only found in a few gardens about 
Calcutta, andlike Morus Indica have never found it in its wild 
state, nor can I learn from whence it originally came. This 
sort is never, so far as I can learn, cultivated in any part of 
India for the silk-worm, nor for any other purpose. The 
fruit is very small, like that of Indica, and of too little. esti- 
mation to encourage ones one to cultivate it, Flowering time 
in Bengal, February, vk dimer 
