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there is scarcely an old garden or gentleman’s seat, throughout the country, 
which can be traced back to the seventeenth century, in which a mulberry tree 
is not to be found. It is remarkable, however, that, though these trees were 
expressly intended for the nourishment of silkworms, they nearly all belong to 
Morus nigra, as very few instances exist of old trees of Morus alba in Eng- 
land. (See Bradley’s Treat. on Hush, and Gard., ed. 1726, vol. i. p. 349.) 
Shakspeare’s mulberry is referable to this period, as it was planted in 1609 
in his garden at New Place, Stratford; and it was a black mulberry, as Mr. 
Drake mentions a native of Stratford, who, in his youth, remembered fre- 
quently to have eaten of the fruit of this tree, some of its branches hanging 
over the wall which divided that garden from his father’s. (Drake’s Shak- 
speare, Vol. il. p. 584.) 
Properties and Uses. The black mulberry is cultivated, Du Hamel tells us, 
“ for its fruit, which is very wholesome and palatable; and not for its leaves, 
which are but little esteemed for silkworms;” and which, at the beginning of 
autumn, often become covered with red spots. The fruit, he adds, is eaten 
raw, or “ made into syrups, which are considered excellent for sore throats.” 
(Nouv. Du Ham., iv. p. 91.) The wood is considered of but little value in 
France, except for fire-wood: it is less compact than even that of the white 
mulberry ; and weighs only 40 lb. 7 oz. the cubic foot. Cattle eat the leaves, 
and all kinds of poultry are very fond of the fruit. 
In England, the fruit is generally eaten at the dessert; and it is considered 
of a cooling aperient nature when ripe. It forms an agreeable sweetmeat, 
though it is not generally used for that purpose; and Evelyn says that, mixed 
with the juice of cider apples, it makes a very strong and agreeable wine. 
Dr. Clarke mentions that he saw some Greeks in the Crimea employed in dis- 
tilling brandy from mulberries; which he describes as “a weak but palatable 
spirit, as clear as water.” (Travels, vol. i. p. 529.) A wine is also made from 
it in France; but it requires to be drunk immediately, as it very soon becomes 
acid. The root has an acrid bitter taste, and is considered excellent as a ver- 
mifuge, in doses of half a drachm in powder. (Smith in Rees’s Cycl.) The 
tree in every part contains a portion of milky juice, which, being coagulated, 
is found to form a kind of coarse Indian rubber. In some parts of Spain, on 
Mount A®tna, and in Persia, the leaves of this species are said to be preferred 
to those of the white mulberry for silkworms. (Hook. Bot. Comp., vol. i. p. 59.) 
Poetical and mythological Allusions. The mulberry was dedicated by the 
Greeks to Minerva, probably because it was considered as the wisest of trees ; 
and Jupiter the Protector was called Morea. Ovid has celebrated the black 
mulberry tree in the story of Pyramus and Thisbe ; where he tells us that its 
fruit was originally snow-white ; but that when Pyramus, in despair at the 
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