90 MULBERRY. 



In Russia, the fruit of the JVforas lartarica is eaten fresh, 

 conserved, or dried ; a wine and a spirit are also made from 

 them, but the berries are said to be of an insipid taste. 



All the species of the Morus are remarkable for putting 

 out their leaves late, so that when they appear, gardeners 

 may safely set out their green-house plants, taking it for 

 granted that all danger from frost is over; from this circum- 

 stance, plantations of Mulberry trees may be made in this 

 country in the spring of the year with greater safety. 



The Mulberry produces its fruit chiefly on little shoots of 

 the same year, which arise on last year's wood and on spurs 

 from the two-year-old wood ; in both stages, mostly at the 

 ends of the shoots and the branches. In pruning, thin out 

 irregular crossing branches, but never shorten the young 

 wood, on which fruit is produced. If any of the dwarfish 

 kinds are cultivated as espaliers for their fruits, cut so as to 

 bring in a partial succession of new wood every year, and 

 a complete succession once in two years, taking the old bar- 

 ren wood out, as may be necessary. As the blossom buds 

 cannot be readily distinguished from others in the winter, 

 the best period for pruning is when the blossoms first become 

 visible in the spring. 



There is another genus of plants, known as the Paper 

 Mulberry, which is very ornamental, called Broussonetia 

 papyrifera; though a low tree, it has vigorous shoots, fur- 

 nished with two large leaves ; the fruit, which is small, is 

 surrounded with long purple hairs, changing to a black pur- 

 ple colour when ripe, and full of juice. "In China and 

 Japan, it is cultivated for the sake of the young shoots, from 

 the bark of which the inhabitants of the Eastern countries 

 make paper. The bark being separated from the wood, is 

 steeped in water, the former making the whitest and best 

 paper. The bark is next slowly boiled, then washed, and 

 afterward put upon a wooden table, and beat into a pulp. 

 This pulp being put in water, separates like grains of meal. 

 An infusion of nee, and the root of manhiot, are next added 



