CHAP, vn.] THE MULBERRY. 193 



silk-worms reared in England. The fruit of 

 the red mulberry is eatable, but not very good ; 

 and its leaves are also injurious to silk-worms. 

 From the fruit of the large white Persian Mul- 

 berrv a svrup is extracted scarcely to be dis- 

 tinguished from that made from sugar. 



The black mulberry is said to be a native of 

 Persia ; but if so it must have been brought to 

 Europe at a very early period, as it was common 

 in Italy when ancient Rome was at her zenith. 

 It appears to have been introduced into Eng- 

 land long before 1573, as some old trees, still 

 in existence, are said to have been of consider- 

 able size in that year. The mulberry has 

 several peculiarities in its habits, which dis- 

 tinguish it from most other trees. The most 

 striking of these is, that it may be propagated 

 by truncheons : that is, if a large limb of a 

 tree, as thick as a man's arm, or thicker, be 

 cut off, and stuck into the ground, it will grow 

 without anv further trouble being taken with it; 

 and probably the next year, or the year after, 

 it will bear abundance of fruit. This, I believe, 

 is the case with no other tree except the olive. 

 The mulberry also is later than any other tree 

 in coming into leaf; but, when it does begin to 

 open its buds, its leaves are expanded, and its 

 young fruit formed, without any apparent 

 flowers, in an incredibly short time. Another 

 peculiarity is, that old trees frequently split into 

 five or six different parts, each of which in 

 time becomes surrounded with bark, so that a 

 very old and thick trunk appears changed into 

 five or six slender new ones : the branches also, 

 if they lie along the ground, take root and 







