44 CHAPTER VI. 



is therefore used for ship carpentry. Next after the 

 Moms alba, as a food for silkworms, comes the many- 

 stemmed Mulberry (M. multicaulis). In fact, it is 

 preferred by many silk farmers, because it has great 

 vitality, opens its buds early in Spring, and produces 

 a great quantity of large succulent leaves. Silk- 

 worms are so fond of the pungent odour of the 

 Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) that it is mixed with 

 the heather in which the larve are to spin their 

 cocoons in order to attract them. The French name 

 of the plant is " Herbe St. Jean." This composite is 

 not found on the coast, but it descends as low as 

 Grasse. In some districts branches of pine are 

 placed for the full-fed larvae to spin up in. This is 

 found to answer admirably, for the insects take to it 

 willingly, and the cocoons are easily removed later 

 on. The fruits of the Mulberry are not much valued 

 here, at least one sees them rotting on the ground. 

 Botanists will permit me, for the sake of simplicity, 

 to call the Mulberry and the Fig " Fruits " ; Hooker 

 takes the same licence. It would be both tedious 

 and pedantic to insist on every occasion upon strict 

 botanical accuracy, to deny that the Daisy is a flower, 

 and to call the Kose a monstrosity. An Irishman 

 might possibly forgive you (for my countrymen are 

 not vindictive) if you told him that his beloved potato 

 . is not a root ; but who would brave the fury of a 

 Scotchman if it were hinted that his national emblem 

 is no Thistle, not a real Carduus, but only a vulgar 

 Onopord ? 



Very close to Morns comes the Paper Mulberry 

 or Chinese Mulberry (Broussonetia papyri/era). If 

 you are supposed to know anything about botany, 



