DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 213 



rally three-lobed. The European mulberry bears a fruit 

 four or five times as large as the American, full of rich; 

 sweet juice. It has long been a favorite in England, and 

 is one of the most healthy and delicious fruits of the season, 

 Glover says : 



" There the flushing peach, 



The apple, citron, almond, pear, and date, 

 Pomegranates, purple mulberry, and fig. 

 From interlacing branches mix their hues 

 And scents, the passengers' delight." 



Leonid. B. II. 



We regret that so excellent a fruit should be so little 

 cultivated here. It succeeds extremely well in the middle 

 states ; and as it ripens at the very period in midsummer 

 when fruits are scarcest, there can be no more welcome 

 addition to our pomonal treasures, than its deep purple and 

 luscious berries. According to Loudon, it is a tree of great 

 durability ; in proof of which he quotes a specimen at Sion 

 House, 300 years old, which is supposed to have been 

 planted in the 16th century by the botanist Turner. 



The White mulberry {M. alba) is the species upon the 

 leaves of which the silkworms are fed. The fruit is insipid 

 and tasteless, and the tree is but httle cultivated to embellish 

 ornamental plantations, though one of the most useful in 

 the world, when its importance in the production of silk is 

 taken into account. There are a great number of varieties 

 of this species to be found in the different nurseries and silk 

 plantations ; among them the Chinese mulberry (M. multi- 

 caulis) grows rapidly, but scarcely forms more than a large 

 shrub at the north ; and its very large, tender, and soft 

 green foliage is interesting in a large collection. The fruit 

 is, we believe, of no importance ; but it is the most valuable 



