CULTIVATION OF THE MULBERRY. 35 



the great care that is taken with the cultivation, a great 

 number of the mulberry trees often die. The trees grow 

 slowly from seedlings in beds. To have them grow fast, 

 slips of the black mulberry tree must be taken. Those 

 persons that have no mulberry plants are obliged to sow 

 the seed. 



The earth should be spaded about the mulberry trees, 

 and lo-teou (dolichos) and siao-teou (phaseolus radiatus) 

 sown there. For two years after having planted the mul- 

 berry trees, care must be taken, not to gather the leaves, 

 because the trees that have had the leaves taken from 

 them, when young, do not grow half so fast as the others. 



When the mulberry trees are as large as one's arm, they 

 must be transplanted in the second month, to about thirty- 

 feet apart. 



The trees of one row must not correspond with those of 

 another, otherwise they will injure the lo-teov, (dolichos) 

 the siao-teou, (phaseolus radiatus.) We will also add, that 

 if the mulberry trees were planted in regular lines, they 

 would constrain the movement of the plough. 



The following is the time, when the layers ought to be 

 taken. In the first or second month branches must be 

 bent down, and fixed to the ground with hooks or forked 

 sticks. When these branches have pushed or sprouted some 

 inches, they must be surrounded with dry and well pressed 

 earth. If the earth is damp the young shoots will rot. In 

 the first month of the next year, (February,) the mother 

 branches must be cut and the roots transplanted. [Thsi- 

 min-yao-chou.] 



Whenever a field of mulberry trees is ploughed, it must 

 not be near the trees ; the trees would be injured, and the 



