134 [Senate 



corn is suitable for the mulberry. That however which is inclined 

 to be light and sandy is the best. 



The Morns Multicaulis may be propagated by cuttings or layers. 

 (or a good variety may be raised from the seed.) Cuttings may be of 

 one or more buds, planted perpendicularly in a light, mellow bed of 

 soil. They should be planted when the spring has fully opened, or 

 about the usual time of planting corn. They may be planted in rows, 

 about twelve inches apart, and the rows at a sufficient distance to ad- 

 mit of a thorough cultivation with a plow or cultivator. The ground 

 should be kept mellow until past midsummer. 



Select a suitable piece of ground for a permanent orchard ; it 

 should be well broken up in the fall and again plowed in the springy 

 and if followed with the subsoil plow it would be advantageous ; af- 

 ter a thoiough harrowing, it should be laid off in rows eight feet by 

 four with the plow. The trees, at one year old from the nurse- 

 ry bed should be taken up, the tops cut off near the root and one 

 planted in each of the squares or hills. 



Having tried various methods of planting, and different distances, 

 I prefer those here given. This will admit the free use of the plow 

 or cultivator both ways. 



In latitudes north of 38 or 40 degrees, where land is more valua- 

 ble, they may be planted much nearer. 



If a sufficient quantity of cuttings from old trees cannot at once be 

 procured, the trees from the nursery should be taken up in the fall 

 and buried in a cellar or upon the north side of a bank or hill in al- 

 ternate layers of earth and trees, and the whole protected by a shed 

 from the rains of winter, as the plants seldom sufficiently mature the 

 first season from the cuttings to withstand the winters of a northern 

 climate, particularly that portion above ground. South of 38 de- 

 grees of latitude these precautions may not be necessary. 



The Canton mulberry is a more hardy kind, resembling in some 

 degree the varieties known as the common Italian, producing a large, 

 full, thick leaf. 



This variety is propagated from seed and from layers, but does not 

 readily strike root from cuttings. 



In 1838 I procured a quantity of this seed from Canton which pro- 

 duced a variety of plants. Those producing the greatest quantity of 

 fruit yield an inferior leaf. 



