CORNELL UNIVERSITY EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 287 



-duced a new mulberry into France from the Phillipines in 1824, the large 

 leaves and rapid growth of which at once attracted the attention of all 

 silkgrowers. It turned out that this tree had come originally from China 

 and was the source of the famous Chinese silk. Perkottet called it 

 Moris multicaulis from its habit of branching or sprouting from the sur- 

 face of the ground. This tree reached America in 1829 or 1830, by way of 

 ihe nurseries of Messrs. Prince, on Long Island, and in 1830 or 1881 it 

 was introduced into Massachusetts by William Kenrick, author of the 

 " New American Orchardist." The fame of the tree spread rapidly, and 

 there arose a fever of speculation such as has never been known in any 

 other horticultural venture in America. The records of ihe next ten years 

 read like fiction. Many nurserymen gave up all other business that they 

 might grow the mulberry, and they realized several hundred per cent, 

 profit. The secret of the Chinese silk had been discovered and every 

 available acre from New England to the Gulf must be covered with the 

 marvelous herbage of this mulberry, and men must train their hands to 

 the breeding of the worms and spinning the silken threads! One nursery- 

 man who is still living, went to the West Indies that he might grow hun- 

 dreds of thousands of trees during the winter season, so great was the 

 haste for plants. From the thinly settled portions of the west the planters 

 came eager for trees at almost any price, and even in Maine the demand 

 was great. Then came the reaction. The market was supplied and soon 

 over-stocked. A disease appeared. The winters of New England were 

 too severe. One man near Hartford lost nearly ten thousand trees from 

 cold. Men lost their fortunes; and in 1839 the bubble burst. One man 

 near Philadelphia sold 250,000 trees at one auction in the fall of that year. 

 He realized 31 cents each with a discount of 7| per cent for cash. His 

 buyers were mostly from the west. The eastern men had grown cautious 

 before this. Other dealers sold for much less, and many had thousands 

 of trees left upon their hands. " The trees were sold, in some instances, 

 for a few cents each, and thousands, if not millions, were never replanted 

 after they had been taken out of the ground in the fall of 1839." So 

 Morns multicaulis passed from sight and the present generation knows 

 nothing of it. No nurseryman grows it. The last specimen in the east, 

 so far as any one knows, was cut down nearly ten years ago. It stood on 

 the old battle ground at Germantown. Only one tangible result of this 

 great contagion remains to us. Charles Downing, whose name will long 

 remain a household word among those who love gardens and fruits, planted 

 seeds of this mulberry and raised the Downing Mulberry, which is now 

 grown for its fruit. 



This was not the beginning of American mulberry cultivation, although 

 it was far the most important contribution to it. Before this time various 

 forms of mulberries had been introduced, but mostly for the purpose of 

 feeding silk worms. Benjamin Franklin had demonstrated that good silk 

 can be grown in this country. M'Mahon, 1806, had urged the cultivation 

 of the mulberry for fruit and for hedges as well as for silk. In 1806, too, 

 Frederick Pursh, a botanical traveler, found mulberries cultivated in 

 orchai'ds near Cayuga lake, N. Y., "may be for the raising of silkworms, 

 as the trees were low and planted in regular close rows." William Prince, 

 in 1828, regarded the Black Persian and the wild native red mulberry as 

 the best for fruit, and he enumerates several kinds for silk. Among other 

 sorts which were introduced in the early days was Morns Taiarica, which 

 has lately reappeared as the Russian mulberry. So far, there appear to 



