256 



POPULAR FRUIT GROWING. 



hedge or windbreak. In this form, it will often attain the height 

 of twenty feet and becomes very close and pretty if given an oc- 

 casional pruning. It is of a rapid growth and very hardy in 

 southern Minnesota and southern Dakota, Nebraska and Kan- 

 sas, and even north to the latitude of St. Paul, it stands fairly 

 well. Occasionally in very severe winters, it will lose a part 

 of its new growth but it quickly outgrows this injury and is less 

 liable to winter killing when old than when young." 



Its fruit. With few exceptions, all trees of this species 

 now growing in this country have been propagated from seed, 

 and as with most other fruits, not one seedling in five hundred 

 produces fruit of much value. Most seedlings have very small 

 fruit, while others are staminate and have no fruit at all. Quite 

 frequently some trees will bear fruit as large as a medium-sized 

 blackberry, and occasionally considerably larger. The quality 

 of the fruit varies nearly as much as the size of the berries; 

 some being insipid and even unpleasant, while others are sweet 

 and agreeable, but like all mulberries, they lack high quality. 



They are quite soft when 

 ripe and quickly fall to 

 the ground, which should 

 be kept smooth so that 

 they may be readily gath- 

 ered. It is at its best Just 

 as it falls from the tree 

 and generally commences 

 to ripen just before the 

 first currants, and con- 

 tinues ripening for a 

 week or more. It re- 

 sembles the blackberry 

 In appearance, but the 

 fruit of some seedlings 

 is nearly white in color, 

 though the latter are sel- 

 dom, if ever, as good eat- 

 ing as the blackberry. The 

 Fig. 116. Russian Mulberry. Foli- 

 age and fruit age at which plants com- 



