THE NATIVE MULBERRY 163 



wormes prospered excellently well untill the master 

 workeman fell sick, during which tyme they were eaten 

 with ratts, and this willbe a commoditie not meanely 

 profitable. Now yt is seriously considered of, and 

 order taken that yt shalbe duly followed." A part of 

 this statement, in the identical words, is found in John 

 Smith's earlier account of the natural productions of 

 Virginia. The tree was early spread widely in the 

 settlements. In 1749, Peter Kalm found it planted at 

 Montreal, where it had been brought some twenty 

 years before, but the most northerly place at which he 

 knew it to grow naturally was "about twenty English 

 miles north of Albany." It was early introduced into 

 Europe. 



Although this red mulberry was early planted in 

 cultivated grounds, no attempt appears to have been 

 made to improve its fruit. Michaux speaks of it early 

 in this century as follows: "The fruit * * * * 

 might easily be augmented in size and quantity by 

 careful cultivation : a very sensible improvement is 

 witnessed in trees left standing in cultivated fields." 

 William Prince, writing in his "Treatise on Horticul- 

 ture," in 1828, speaks of the "Red American, a com- 

 mon native of our forests," as one of the "most 

 valued" mulberries "for their fruit," but he knew no 

 named varieties. The Congressional Manual of 1828 

 gives a good account of the distribution and attributes 

 of the native red mulberry. "There are several varie- 

 ties in the red mulberry tree," it says, "depending on 

 the leaves and fruit : 



"1. Leaves all orbiculated (round). 



"2. do deeply lobed. 



"3. do with three short lobes. 



