1350 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART Ill. 
* M. a. 11 sinénsis Hort.; M. sinénsis Hort.; MM. chinénsis Lodd. Cat., 
ed. 1836; the Chinese white Mulberry, Amer.; is a large-leaved 
variety. 
% M. a. 12 pumila Nois., ? M. a. nana Hort. Brit., is a shrub, seldom 
exceeding 10 ft. high. There are plants bearing this name in the 
arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges, which have leaves nearly as large 
as those of M. a. macrophylla. 
Other Varieties. All the above sorts are in the arboretum of Messrs. 
Loddiges; but in the catalogues of foreign nurserymen there are several 
other names. In the Humbeque Nursery, near Brussels, a number of va- 
rieties are cultivated for the American market, where the white mulberry 
is now much in demand ; and a list of their names will be found in Gardener’s 
Magazine, vol. xi. p. 539. Castelet, in his T'raité sur les Muériers blancs, 
which is generally considered the best work on the subject extant in 
France, divides the varieties of JZ. 4lba, now cultivated in Provence for 
their leaves, into two classes, the wild and the grafted; the latter being 
propagated by grafting, and the former by cuttings, layers, or seeds. 
Wild Mulberries. 
La Feuille vose.—This is the same as M. a. 87dsea, mentioned above. . 
La Feuille dorée, M. a. \avida Hort., M. lucida Hort., which has large, heart-shaped, 
shining leaves, and small purplish fruit. 
La Reine bdétarde has the leaves twice as large as those of the Feuille rose, and 
deeply toothed. This is probably the Foglia zxaxola of the Italians. 
La Femelie.—Tree spiny, and sending forth its fruit before its leaves,which are trilobate. 
Grafted Mulberries. 
La Reine, which has shining leaves, much larger than any of the wild varieties; and 
ash.coloured fruit. 
La grosse Reine. —This is a subvariety of M. a. macroph¥lla, which has the leaves of a 
very deep green, and the fruit black, instead of white. 
La Feuille d’ Espagne.—Vhis variety is the same as M. a. 4 macrophylla, mentioned above. 
La Feuille de flocs has the leaves of a very deep green, and growing in tufts at the ex- 
trentities of the branches. The fruit is produced in abundance, but never arrives 
at maturity. This is probably the Foglia doppia, or double-leaved variety, of the 
Italian gardeners. 
Besides these, there are many garden varieties in the French, German, 
and Italian nurseries. 
Description, §c. The white mulberry is readily distinguished from the 
black, even in winter, by its more numerous, slender, upright-growing, and 
white-barked shoots. It is a tree of much more rapid growth than M. nigra, 
and its leaves are not only less rough and more succulent, but they contain 
more of the glutinous milky substance resembling caoutchouc, which gives 
tenacity to the silk produced by the worms fed on them. They are generally 
cordate and entire, but sometimes lobed, and always deeply serrated. The 
fruit of MZ. alba and its wild varieties is seldom good for human food, but it 
is found excellent for poultry; and, for this purpose, a tree of the species was 
formerly generally planted in the basse cour of the old French chateaux. 
(Bosc.) The fruit of JZ, a. multicatlis, and some other of the highly cultivated 
varieties, is not only eatable, but agreeable. The rate of growth of young 
plants is much more rapid than that of MZ, nigra; plants cut down producing 
shoots 4 ft. or 5 ft. long in one season ; the tree attaining the height of 20 ft. 
in five or six years; and, when full grown, reaching to 30 ft. or 40ft. Its 
duration is not so great as that of WM, nigra. 
Geography. The white mulberry is only found truly wild in China, in the 
province of Seres, or Serica; it is, however, apparently naturalised in many 
parts of Asia Minor and Europe ; and nearly all its varieties are of European 
origin. It does not embrace so extensive a range of eountry as M. nigra, 
being unable to resist either great cold or great heat. In a cultivated 
state, it is found, as a road-side pollard tree, in many parts of France, Spain, 
Italy, and Germany as far north as Frankfort on the Oder. In England, 
it is not very common; and it is scarcely to be found in Scotland, even 
against a wall, 
History, §c. The Chinese appear to have been the first to cultivate the 
mulberry for feeding silkworms; and theyare supposed to have discovered the 
art of making siik 2700 years B. c., in the reign of the Emperor Hong, whose 
empress, Si-ling-chi, is said to have first observed the labours of the silk- 
