MUKDEN 



3577 



MULE 



Mukden, BATTLE or. Fought 



n the Russians and the 



.Japanew, Feb. 20 - March 10, 



hi (ii-t ., r.tni. the Russians 

 had at ta. !>. I the Japanese posi- 

 tion* Oil tin- Sha-lfo, and tho rival 

 were still occupying much 

 the same linos. Roth had strength- 

 n. .1 tlicir defences, the Russians 

 h< 'Ming a front about 60 m. long, 

 general Kuropatkin had 

 about 300,000 men ; the Japanese 

 under Oyarna were almost equal. 



Strengthened by the army that 

 had just captured Port Arthur, 

 i proceeded to execute his 

 i arefully prepared plan for break- 

 ing the Russian front. On Feb. 20 

 a new Japanese army, the 5th, 

 working through the mountains 

 iiwurds (lie Russian left, came into 

 iontart with tho foe, and after 

 fighting two passes were 

 stormed. 



On Feb. 27, Oyama began to 

 develop his full plan. His centre 

 opened an attack on the opposing 

 Russians, but more important was 

 the appearance, quite unexpected 

 by the Russians, of the 4th army, 

 the men of I'ort Arthur, upon their 

 right Hank. Kuropatkin, misled 

 as to his foe's intentions, drew 

 in his right wing, while the Japanese 

 were curving round the two ends of 

 his army. The Russians fought well, 

 and the Japanese losses during some 

 days of constant fighting were 

 terribly high, but the danger to the 

 Russian communications made a 

 retreat inevitable. This took the 

 form of a series of rearguard actions 

 and after a time the Russians be- 

 came demoralised. Mukden was 

 evacuated by March 10, and battle 

 and pursuit were soon over. The 

 Russians lost 26,500 killed and 

 40,000 prisoners, besides a large 

 number of wounded; the Japanese 

 1,000 killed and wounded. 

 See Oyama ; Russo-Japanese War ; 

 Sha-Ho, Battle of ; consult also 

 Famous Modern Battles, A. VV. 

 Atteridge, 1911. 



Mula. Town of Spain, in the 



prov. of Murcia. It stands on the 



river Mula, a small tributary of 



the Segura, 20 m. 



W~ r W.N.W. of Mur- 

 cia. Trade is car- 

 _ ried on in wine, 



oil, and farm pro- 

 duce. In the vicin- 

 ity are the Banos 

 de Mula, with 

 thermal sulphur 

 springs. Pop. 

 11,900. 



Mulai Hafld (b. 1875). Sultan 

 of Morocco. Son of Mulai Hassan, 

 he was born at Fez, and for some 

 years was a staunch supporter of his 

 brother, Abd-el-Aziz. The French 

 interposition at Casablanca irritated 



Mula arms 



the native tribes, who in 1906 de- 

 posed Abd-el-Aziz and gave the 

 throne to Mulai 

 Hafld, but de- 

 spite assistance 

 from France, 

 he waa forced 

 to abdicate the 

 throne in 

 favour of his 

 brother Mulai 

 Yusef, Aug. 11, 



Mulai Hathl, 

 Ex-sultan of Morocco 



1912. 

 ooco. 



Xt, Mor 



Mulai Hassan HI (1831-94). 

 Sultan of Morocco. Son of Sidi 

 Mulai Hafid, he succeeded his 

 father in 1873 and acquired great 

 popularity among his snbjects by 

 the vigour with which he crushed 

 rebel tribes. He died June 7, 1894, 

 and wns succeeded by his son 

 Abd-el-Aziz. See Morocco. 



Mulatto (Sp. mulato, young 

 mule). Half-breed, especially the 

 offspring and their descendants 

 of parents whereof one is of 

 white, the other of a negro race. 

 The hair is usually negroid, the 

 colour intermediate. The offspring 

 of a mulatto and a white is a quad- 

 roon (one-fourth black) ; of a 

 quadroon and a white an octoroon 

 (one-eighth black). See Negro. 



Mulberry tree, black variety, in fall bloom 



Mulberry (Mor us). Trees and 

 shrubs of the natural order Mor- 

 aceae, natives of the N. temperate 

 regions. There are ten species, of 

 which the best known are the 

 black mulberry (M. nigra), the 

 white mulberry (M. alba), and the 

 red mulberry (M. rubra). All these 

 have heart-shaped leaves with 

 toothed edges, and inconspicuous 

 greenish-white unisexual flowers, 

 produced in spikes and \\iml- 

 tertilised. The compound fruit is 

 somewhat similar in form to that 

 of the raspberry, but has a very 

 different origin, the latter being the 

 product of a single flower, whilst 

 each mulberry is due to the coales- 

 cence of all the fruits from a spike 

 of female flowers. The black or 

 common mulberry, a native of the 



Orient, wan introduced to Britain 

 in 1548, the first tree* being planted 

 at Syon House, Isleworth ; and later 

 James I fostered the planting of 

 mulberry garden* around London, 

 in the belief that the silk industry 

 might be established there. 



The tree succeeds in any deep, 

 rather damp soil, but the two others 

 named prefer a dry soil The white 

 mulberry, a native of China, was 

 introduced to Britain in 1596, for 

 the sake of ita leaves, which are 

 better for silkworm culture. Red 

 mulberry with Jong, purple, plea- 

 sant-flavoured fruit, is a N. Ameri- 

 can tree of larger proportions (40- 

 70 ft. high). Mulberries may be 

 raised easily from seed, but more 

 expeditiously by large cuttings, or 

 layering in autumn. 



Mulcaster, RICHARD (c. 1530- 

 1611). English schoolmaster and 

 author. A native of Cumberland, 

 he was educated at Eton under 

 Udall, and at Christ Church, Oxford. 

 He was the first headmaster of 

 Merchant Taylors' School, London, 

 1561-86 ; vicar of Cranbrook, 

 Kent, 1590; high master of S. 

 Paul's School, London, 1598-1608, 

 and became in 1598 rector of Stan- 

 ford Rivers, Essex., where he died 

 and is buried. He wrote several 

 ^^^^^^^^^ educational 

 works, including 

 Positions, 1581. 

 See Positions, ed. 

 with Memoir, R. 

 B. Quick, 1888. 



Mulch. Dress- 

 ing of moist stable 

 manure, leaf 

 mould, straw, 

 bracken, or other 

 tnanurial sub- 

 stance applied to 

 soil round recently 

 transplanted trees 

 or shrubs. Its ob- 

 ject is to afford 

 protection from 

 frost, conserve 

 moisture, and supply nutriment 

 which rain will carry down to the 

 roots of the plants. 



Mule. Name strictly applying 

 to a hybrid between a male ass and 

 a mare. All the various members 

 of the horse family, including 

 asses, zebras, and quaggas, will 

 interbreed, and in its broad sense 

 the term mule is applied to all the 

 resulting offspring. Almost all 

 these hybrids are sterile, but a few 

 cases of fertility have been recorded. 

 The rule among these hybrids ia 

 that the offspring resembles the 

 father in appearance and the 

 mother in size. Hence mules are 

 large animals of ass-like character. 

 In order to secure size, mules 

 are usually bred from the Poitou 

 and Spanish jack-asses, which are 



