43 [ 175 ] 



entire, but sometimes divided into two or three lobes, rounded, heart 

 shaped, and denticulated, of a dark green color, thick texture, rough 

 and uneven surface. The sexes are usually separate, though some- 

 times they are found upon the same tree. The fruit is of a deep red 

 color, an oblong shape, and of an agreeable, acidulous sugary taste;, 

 it is composed of the union of a great number of small berries, each 

 of which contains a minute seed. The tree often exceeds sixty feet in 

 height, and two feet in diameter. The wood is of a yellowish hue, 

 approaching to lemon color, fine grained and compact, and when 

 perfectly seasoned, is as durable as the white locust,* on \vhich ac- 

 count it is highly esteemed for posts, and, by ship and boat builders, 

 for the upper and lower frames of vessels, knees, and floor timbers, 

 and the ribs of boats. In Tennessee, and probably in the other West- 

 ern States, when a native forest is cut down, if the land be enclosed, 

 a growth of red mulberry trees, it is said, soon takes its place. t 



There are several varieties iu the red mulberry tree, depending on 

 the leaves and fruit: 



1. Leaves all orbiculated, (round.) 



2. do deeply lobed. 



3. do with three short lobes. 



4. Fruit, berries nearly white. 



5. do do bluish purple. 



6. do do red and long. 



7. do do blackish red. 



Mr. C. C. Robin, a French traveller, mentions a species with leave* 

 similar to the red mulberry in shape, but rough and shining on the 

 upper surface, and downy underneath, with white fruit, and growing 

 in Louisiana. Travels in L. &c. Paris, vol. 3d, p. 379. Mr. Darby 

 notices one which he calls M. scabra, or Spanish mulberry, which is 

 found in Opelousas. Description of Louisiana. Both these m.ay be 

 varieties of the morus rubra. 



That the leaves of the native red mulberry tree agree perfectly with 

 silkworms, and yield very good silk, is a fact so well established by 

 the experience of more than a century, that, to doubt it, would amount 

 to an absurdity. It appears, however, that the leaves do not suit the 

 constitution of French worms, and the author, t of the experiment, 

 which he made to satisfy himself, on this point, therefore decides 



* Robinta pseudo-acacia. 



-j-'Fhe fact of the spontaneous succession of forest trees of a difTereiit kind from 

 those which had formerly grown on the same land, when the first g-rowth has been 

 eut off or burnt, was known to the people of the United Stat'-s from their early set^ 

 tlement; but when the enterprising M'lvensie («) mentioned it, \hc truiii of his state- 

 ment was denied by the Edinburgh reviewer (Z») of his work; althcug'ii a similar fact had 

 been, ten years before, noticed by Mr. Cartwriglit, in his Journal of a residence in 

 -Labrador, Lon. 1792, vol.3, p. 225. For some interesting facts on t!iis subject, see 

 the papers of Judg'e Peters, Mr. A.llum, and others, in the 2d vol of the Memoiri 

 of the Philadelphia Society for promoting^ Agricultiire. 



\ Mr. Delon!.;champs: Essai, sur I'Elistoire des .Viurlers; et des Vers a Soie. Pari% 

 1824 



In) Voyage from Montreal 'o ihe Fro/.'-n and Pacrfic Oicani. in His rear* \1H"> iwX no-?. J.undon. ISttl" 

 (b) Vol. 1. 1802. 



