34 CULTIVATION OF THE MULBERRY. 



not been cultivated for a long time, must be prepared. In 

 each acre three ching (kind of measure) of millet and mul- 

 berry seed, mixed together, must be sown. The millet and 

 mulberry trees ought to vegetate at the same time. The 

 mulberries must be dug, transplanted and arranged so as to 

 stand at suitable distances from each other. When the mil- 

 let is ripe it must be reaped. The mulberries have also 

 grown, and attained a height equal to the millet ; they must 

 be cut close to the ground, with a sickle, or a sharp scythe ; 

 leave them to dry in the sun, and when it is windy, burn 

 them. For that, it is always necessary to choose the mo- 

 ment when the wind blows from a favorable quarter. 



The mulberry plants will shoot forth the following spring. 

 One acre will yield leaves enough to nourish the silk worms 

 of three hurdles. [Khi-ching-tchi-chou.] 



When the fruit of mulberry trees, and the trees called 

 tche have come to maturity, the black fruit of the mulberry 

 trees of Lou must be gathered ; they must be washed the 

 same day in water, and the seed separated. They must be 

 dried in the sun, and sown in beds of earth, which should 

 be dug and watered, as if for the cultivation of the plant 

 called Koue'i, (mallows.) The ground should be constantly 

 weeded, and kept clear of noxious plants. The next year, 

 in the first month, (February,) the mulberry trees must be 

 taken up and transplanted, leaving between each plant a 

 distance of four or five feet. This operation can be done 

 equally, in the second and third months of Spring. The 

 ground must not be ploughed. Generally, the failure of 

 mulberry plants proceeds from the ploughing ; the iron of 

 the plough cuts and wounds the roots. 



The seed must be thickly sown, because, notwithstanding 



