1869.] THE MULBERRY. 275 



peculiar to tliis species, but this was margined with bright carmine-red, 

 something like the zone of a white-edged variegated Zonal Pelargonium. 

 It is to be hoped that this remarkable sport may be preserved. 



E. D. 



THE MULBERRY. 



A ' Subscriber ' in the ' Gardener ' for January (page 48) wishes for 

 some information respecting the propagation of the Mulberry, and how 

 to increase its fruit-bearing habits at any earlier age than usual. 

 Perhaps the following observations on its culture may be of use to him 

 and others who have had no experience in raising plants for the early 

 fruiting of this very rich and desirable fruit for the dessert. When I 

 first came to Welbeck in 1837, I was much struck with some large 

 flower-pots perched on the tops of two standard Mulberry-trees, and 

 imagined they were placed there for some species of birds to build 

 their nests in. On asking the late Mr Mearns (who was my predecessor 

 as gardener there), he informed me that the late Andrew Knight of 

 Downton Castle always used to raise his fruiting-trees of Mulberries 

 in that way. Mr Mearns likewise informed me that Mr Knight found 

 out that, by propagating the Mulberry in the usual way, it required 

 from twenty to thirty years' growth before it would fruit abundantly 

 even in the south of England. I paid particular attention to these 

 little Mulberry-bushes, and, when perfectly rooted, had two of them in 

 a fruiting state for many years, by shifting them, and growing them in 

 large tubs. Mr Mearns's trees were propagated by layering a smaU 

 fruiting-branch into the pot, and the pot afterwards fastened with 

 strong wire to a branch or stake to keep the wind from shaking it. 

 I believe the best way to produce a large fruiting-bush of the Mulberry 

 would be to have a large flower -pot made into two halves, and 

 when the branch was put in at the hole in the bottom of the pot, the 

 pot could then be bound together and fastened to a strong stake ; the 

 pot would then have to be filled with earth of a strong loamy nature, 

 and some fresh moss placed on the top and pegged down to keep the 

 wind from blowing it off. This moss would keep the soil moist, for 

 watering would be required in the summer months in dry weather. 



In the midland counties in England it is only in exceptionally warm 

 summers, such as 1846, '65, and '68, that standard Mulberries produce 

 fruit ripe enough to use. The two standard trees from which the pot 

 bushes were raised were planted by the celebrated Speechley, and 

 must have been about 110 years old when I first knew them. Another 



T 



