Climate The Mulberry. 337 



distinguished, not only from the Dandolo mulberry^ but also 

 from another variety, which has been mistaken for this, and 

 which I saw growing- at the place of Mr. AVhitmarsh, in 

 Northampton, the seeds of which came from China. At 

 first sight, I concluded they were the Moreltiona or Dan- 

 dolo, a new species from Padua, which, like these, has a 

 large leaf, with a plain surface, but on examination, I saw 

 they differed as much from this as they differ from tlie true 

 kind. 



Since the introduction of the Morus multicaulis to New 

 England, which was not till 1830 or '31, this tree has had 

 to contend, even in its very infancy, with two winters, such 

 as were never before recorded in the memory of man, or in 

 the annals of our country, — winters doubly severe, and with 

 two-fold power to kill. Such destructive winters as these 

 were none of ours, but the visitations of centuries, — the 

 visitants of other countries, and climates, and latitudes, to 

 which alone they properly belong, — the winters of Canada 

 and of Lapland, of Russia and of Nova Zembla. 



The proper soil for the mulberry is dry, sandy or stony ; on 

 such soils, the leaves are less crude and watery, and of 

 better quality, and the wood acquires a ligneous consistence, 

 and fidly matures in due season. And trees growing in such 

 soils, and situated on the open plains, and on hills the most 

 exposed to cold winds, are found to suffer least of all from 

 the destructive frosts of autumn and of winter. 



I distinguish between trees growing in a state of nature, 

 and those growing in a state of artificial culture. Beneath 

 the shades of the forest, or of herbage, and in a state of nature, 

 the growth of the young tree is indeed slow, but the young 

 plant finishes its growth for the first year, and attains to a 

 ligneous consistence, and the wood becomes mature, in due 

 season ; while in a rich, humid, and highly cultivated soil, and 

 protected situation, the growth of the young tree is pro- 

 longed to a very late period, or until suddenly arrested by 

 the frost; and the immature wood of a forced growth being 

 tender, it requires, and more especially dw-ing the first xointer, 

 that essentially necessary protection at the surface of the earth, 

 which nature always provides, if left to herself. For it is 

 an important and established fact, — that the destruction of 

 delicate trees and plants by the winter, is caused by the 

 alternate freezing and thawing of the earth at the surface, — 

 that death commences at the surface, and the top dies as a 

 consequence, — which a little grass or litter at the root will 

 prevent. 



In our climate, and in a state of cultivation, the young seed- 

 ling trees, of the plum, and cherry, and pear, and quince, 

 and many other species, always require protection during 



VOL. I. — NO. IX. T T 



