THE BLACK MULBERRY 167 



varieties of importance ; for although these trees are 

 somewhat foreign to the purpose of a book upon native 

 fruits, we may find their evolution to be so interesting 

 that we cannot forego the pleasure of an acquaintance- 

 ship with them. We have already learned that the 

 fruit -bearing mulberry of the Old World, and therefore 

 of history, is the black (Morus nigra) , and that our 

 own cultivated varieties have been assumed to belong 

 to it. As a matter of fact, however, it is very little 

 known in America. It is not hardy, except in pro- 

 tected places, in New England and New York. The 

 Black Persian mulberry of the South and of California 

 is undoubtedly this species. This variety, with others, 

 was inserted in the fruit catalogue of the American 

 Pomological Society for 1875. It was dropped from 

 the catalogue in 1883, and has not been inserted since. 

 It is named in Wickson's "California Fruits," 1889, 

 without particular comment. The same volume also 

 mentions the black mulberry of Spain, as having been 

 fruited by Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, California. 

 This I take to be Morus nigra. There must be large 

 regions in this country which are congenial to the true 

 black mulberry, and it is strange that it is so little 

 known. The fruit of this species is much larger than 

 that of any other, and it possesses an agreeable subacid 

 flavor. The fruits of the white mulberry (Morns alba), 

 however, are often too sweet for most tastes when 

 fully ripe, and in such case they should be picked 

 before they have fully matured. 



We have seen that the multicaulis mulberry quickly 

 passed from sight after the speculative collapse of 1839 

 and the hard winter of 1844. Yet one record of the 

 old contagion is left to us in the Downing mulberry 



