15 



should never be exposed to the light, air or dampness 

 more than is absolutely necessary. The seed may be 

 obtained at a reasonable rate at most of the seed stores, 

 and I have bought it in Mansfield, Conn, at the rate of a 

 dollar per pound. 



SOWING THE SEED, CHOICE OF SOIL, ETC. 



A soil rich, warm and mixed with much mold, is re- 

 commended as the most proper for a nursery of mulber- 

 ry trees. New shoots should have ground easy to pen- 

 etrate. The ground should be ploughed the preceding 

 fall, and again ploughed two or three times in the spring 

 and made light and friable ; two or three dressings of 

 manure well ploughed in would be of essential service ; 

 the ground may be levelled with a hoe or rake and the 

 seed sown in drills about the first of May, much in the 

 same way as our farmers sow carrots. The weeds must 

 be carefully destroyed, and in dry times watering will be 

 beneficial. I have sown the mulberries in July, and they 

 have sprouted and come on rapidly, but the frosts of win- 

 ter in our climate (New England) have been too severe 

 for them. I would recommend to sow the seed in the 

 spring. From a quarter of an acre of ground the last 

 season, I had over 10,000 plants, produced from seed 

 sown in the spring in the way above-mentioned, some of 

 them upwards of a foot in height. Those that are in- 

 tended for transplanting may be taken up in the fall and 

 put out of the way of frost in a cellar, the roots being 

 covered with loam. Those left standing may be covered 

 with light manure or old hay. The frost will be apt to 

 kill the young and tender tops, but the shoots will start 

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