598 MONOECIA TETRANDRIA. MoTUS, 



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 done in 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, they 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, and like Mortis 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 1 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 any one to cultivate it. Flowering time 

 in Bengal, February. 



