Climate— The Mulberry. 341 



may look with a certain prospect of a crop. Tho Moms multicaulis, or 

 Chinese mulberry, has been looked to with consithM-ablc interest, as 

 being peculiarly a(ia])tc(i to the Southern States ; but I fear tiiat fond 

 anticipation is about to be blasted, from the fate which it has met with 

 during the intense severity of hist winter ;" and again he slates, "there 

 is one advantage wiiich the Morus alba possesses over every other 

 [kind], which I consider a matter of some importance, that is, the quan- 

 tity of fruit it produces, which is said to be fine food for hogs, and of 

 wiiich they are very fond." 



This is but one instance, at the south, that we have read of, though 

 there may be others ; but it proves volumes that the Chinese variety 

 cannot be depended upon, even as far south, and under the genial cli- 

 mate of Georgia. We will suppose, for one moment, that an individual 

 in Georgia had a million of silk-worm eggs, and that he depended upon 

 the Chinese nujlberry for food ; that they are placed away securely, 

 until the time for hatching, in the ensuing spring. But, in our very 

 uncertain climate, the hoj)es as well as the fortunes of the husbandman, 

 are too often blasted. Secure as even the southerner may feel, unheed- 

 ing any danger, it often comes, and when least expected, with the great- 

 est force. The spring opens, but his plantation of trees show no signs 

 of vegetation ; the eggs have hatched, but he has no food for the worms; 

 his hopes of a rich harvest have vanished, and he gives up with despon- 

 dency the growing of the nmlberry, or the rearing of the silk-worm, 

 turning his attention to something to which he is less liable to lose the 

 earnings of his toil and labor : this will consequently induce others to 

 do the same; and the effect will be to materially injure, if not to cause 

 the total abandonment of this profitable pursuit. 



We might multiply cases where the eti'ects of the cold have been the 

 same; but, with the exception of one or two others, we shall close these 

 remarks. Another correspondent in the Silk Culturist states as follows: 

 " There appears to be no difference of opinion, with regard to the supe- 

 rior utility, in every respect, of the Chinese over the Italian [or white 

 mulberry], when climate is equally adapted to both; but there is so de- 

 cided a difference of opinion among those who have tried the culture of 

 the Chinese tree in this State [Hartford], that the public must, for the 

 present, remain in some doubt whethev the certainty of its living through 

 our winter is sufficiently established to warrant exclusive dependence 

 upon it. One of my friends transplanted several thousand trees, and in 

 three winters lost them all, although they were placed on different kinds 

 of soil, and m different exposures. Another friend planted eight hun- 

 dred, and lost all but one hundred and thirty ; and that one hundred and 

 thirty I took and planted in different places, seventy-five in one spot, and 

 the remaining fifty-five in another. The former all died; of the latter, 

 about one in five lived, but were very nmch injured." 



Judge Buel states, in his most valuable agricultural work, and one 

 which should be in the hands of every real farmer, that "our experience 

 compels us to say that its success [the Chinese variety], in the northern 

 section of the State [New York], is at least doubtful." 



We need not add to these, as in our mind, although we confess we 

 have had no experience, the Chinese mulberry cannot, for the jiresent, 

 be relied upon. It was no more than this that we intimated in our last: 

 that plantations should be made of the Chinese, wherever there is one 

 of the common white, we most earnestly reconnncnd; and we ardently 

 hope that it will ultimately be acclimated; but, at the same time, we 

 must express our doubts. To select a few individual trees, that have 

 stood the severity of our winters, is not a fair comparison with a whole 

 plantation; for it must not be expected that the same care will be taken 

 of the many, which would be naturally given to a few trees. As regards 



