148 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



Just at the time when the public began to feel the 

 excitement of the new silk industry, a new element 

 was added to the contagion, and there arose the 

 wildest speculation which American agriculture has 

 ever known. This was the introduction of the mul- 

 ticaulis mulberry. Perrottet had introduced a new 

 mulberry into France from the Philippines in 1824, 

 the large leaves and rapid growth of which at once 

 attracted the attention of all silk-growers. It turned 

 out that this tree had come originally from China, 

 and was thought to be the source of the famous 

 Chinese silk. Perrottet called it Morus mnlticaulix, 

 from its habit of branching or sprouting from the base. 

 This tree reached America about 1826, and in 1830 or 

 1831 it was introduced into Massachusetts by William 

 Kenrick, author of the "New American Orchardist." 



The fame of the tree spread rapidly. The records 

 of the next ten years read like fiction. Many nursery- 

 men gave up all other business that they might grow 

 the mulberry, and they realized several hundred per 

 cent profit. The secret of the Chinese silk had been 

 discovered, and every available acre from New Eng- 

 land to the Gulf must be covered with the mulberry, 

 and men must train their hands to the breeding of the 

 worms and the spinning of silken threads ! One nur- 

 seryman, who is still living, went to the West Indies, 

 that he might grow hundreds of thousands of trees 

 during the winter season, so great was the haste for 

 plants. From the thinly settled parts of the West 

 the planters came eager for trees at almost any price, 

 and even in Maine the demand was great. Then 

 came the reaction. The market was supplied and soon 

 overstocked. A disease appeared. The winters of 



