JARED ELIOT 139 



grandson of the apostle Eliot. In 1762 he wrote 

 "An Essay on the Invention or Art of Making 

 very good Iron from black Sea Sand." Drake, in 

 his "Dictionary of American Biography," says that 

 Eliot "was the first to introduce the white mulberry- 

 tree into Connecticut, and with it the silk -worm, and 

 published a treatise upon the subject." Such a treatise 

 is unknown to bibliographers, so far as I can learn. 

 It is probably the sixth and last essay in Eliot's "Field 

 Husbandry," published in 1759. I am the fortunate 

 possessor of this rare and interesting work, but noth- 

 ing is said in this particular essay about the original 

 introduction of the mulberry into Connecticut. In 

 fact, the essay speaks of the tree as being well known, 

 and silk had been made in the colony. Eliot urges 

 the growing of silk with much enthusiasm, and aside 

 from the main object, he sees the following subsidiary 

 advantages of planting mulberry trees : they may be 

 planted in places which are not used for tilled crops; 

 they produce fire wood, "which is much wanted in 

 our old towns ; " they may afford timber ; " they are 

 worth planting for Shade, Ornament and Beauty;" 

 may be used for hedges ; they yield fruit, "the white 

 Mulberry Tree bears abundance more Fruit, than the 

 black ; in Italy, where they abound in these Trees, 

 they fatten their Swine and Poultry with the Fruit; 

 the Writers say, that the Pork raised in this Manner, 

 is exceeding good ; what is made by this Means costs 

 nothing, for the Hogs are their own Carvers ; the 

 Flesh raised this Way, is a clear Gain, like our Wood 

 fed Pork. I apprehend that a better Improvement of 

 the Fruit would be, to make artificial Wine ; what is 

 now made in the Country is from Cherries, and Cur- 



