STATE HORTICULTUKAL SOCLETT. 227 



THE RUSSIAN MULBEBRY AGAIN. 



A resolution having been offered by R. Porter declaring the cul- 

 tivation of the Russian mulberry to be a humbug, Col. 

 Stevens said there was no doubt about its hardiness. To be 

 sure it would kill down some when young, but would grow up 

 again and soon get over that. He put out one hundred of them 

 five years ago, and they were all living. The Mennonites who 

 brought them to Minnesota grow them largely at Mountain Lake. 

 He had been there to see the trees and found the tallest one thirty 

 feet high. They make good hedges, and the fruit is desirable. 

 Would not reccommend it for a shade or ornamental tree. 



Mr. Emery drew a diagram on the blackboard and explained the 

 manner of growth of the mulberry. It is close-jointed, hardy, an 

 •excellent wind-break and the natural food of the silk worm. It 

 can be grown from cuttings, but not successfully except with the 

 best of facilities and expert care. We advise the ordinary planter to 

 get roots every time. The silk work industry promises a new and 

 paying employment, especially for women, and we want the mul- 

 berry. Keep it, encourge its planting, and it will bring us good 

 returns for our care and money. 



Mr. Whipple thought it could be successfully grown from cut- 

 tings. From one hundred cuttings he had raised twenty-saven 

 healthy trees. 



Mr. Sias concurred in this opinion. 



Mr. Fuller had made a failure of it with both roots and cuttings. 

 The trees had killed to the ground in winter. 



Prof. Porter thought the Russian mulberry contained germs 

 of inestimable value here. Besides its use as the food of the 

 silkworm, it was excellent for an ornamental hedge. Of 1,000 

 miserably cared-for cuttings he raised on the old experimental 

 farm 200 trees. The trees winter killed about half way down, and 

 grew up again the next year. On the State fruit farm he had seen 

 as fine a hedge of mulberries as he ever noticed in Southern Ohio 

 from the Osage Orange. He thought we must begin with seed- 

 lings, as in other fruits; it would take time, but the promised re- 

 sults would justify the experiments. He urged the importance of 

 its culture as the beginning of a new industry — silk culture ; as a 

 means of raising a valuable fruit; as a windbreak or hedge, and, 

 finally, because it could be readily grown. 



