29 



of a year and to form vast and regular plantations of them 

 the second. But a few years then are sufficient to ob- 

 tain considerable fields of them in full vigor, sufficient to 

 support an immense quantity of silk worms, and that 

 with the greatest facility, as they are reproduced in a 

 manner almost indefinite. 4 * Regular plantations of 

 it can be found without difficulty, by planting the shrubs 

 at a distance of six or eight feet from each other, a 

 space sufficient for the extension of the branches, to fa- 

 cilitate the culture and for collecting the leaves. This 

 last operation is so much facilitated by the flexibility of 

 the stalks, that a child is sufficient for furnishing the food 

 of a large establishment of silk worms. 



CLIMATE, SOIL, &c. * * * ' This species will be 

 readily acclimated in Europe ; because it originated in 

 an analogous region as to climate, to that which we in- 

 habit. It appears not to suffer from the excessive cold of 

 the northern, or the intense heat of the intertropical re- 

 gions ; for the plants deposited in the gardens of the 

 government at Cayenne, acquired in the space of eight 

 months a truly remarkable development, and at the time 

 of our departure from that colony, in June, 1821, they 

 were clothed with leaves of an extraordinary size. Those 

 also which we cultivated at Senegal, although situated 

 under a dry and scorching sky, and planted in an arid 

 soil, offered an appearance sufficiently satisfactory, but 

 they had acquired less development in all respects, than 

 those which have vegetated under the humid climate of 

 Guiana. It appears expedient then, that plantations of 

 this mulberry should be made upon a humid rather than 

 a dry soil, to obtain in all respects a satisfactory result. 



