CULTIVATION OF THE MULBERRY. 59 



according to the prescribed rule. Sometimes the strong 

 and tall branches, having but one root, are planted in the 

 same manner. 



When the branches are planted, in order to reproduce 

 mulberry trees, the new shoots may be cut largely, if there 

 are many old mulberry trees. But when there is but a 

 small number, it is to be feared that the following year the 

 silk worms will want food if the trees are cut without dis- 

 cretion. It is for that reason we give here the best methods 

 to direct the cultivator, who wishes to sow mulberries, to 

 make layers, or to plant cuttings ; it is for him to choose, 

 of these three methods of reproduction, which soever may 

 be most convenient for him. 



Suppose a village, where two neighboring cultivators as- 

 sociate their work. They raise a small square enclosure, 

 having one hundred yards for each front of the nursery. 

 (If the inhabitants be numerous, and possess much land, 

 the labor divided between them will be still less for each.) 

 Each cultivator will make two hundred yards of the enclo- 

 sure, the ground in the enclosure will contain ten thousand 

 yards. At every three feet a mulberry tree will be planted, 

 which will make ten thousand plants for the whole nursery, 

 and five thousand trees for each family. But if a family by 

 itself alone can make an enclosure of two hundred yards, 

 the ground it encloses cannot contain more than two thou- 

 sand five hundred yards. If the rule, indicated above, be 

 followed, and the mulberry trees planted at one yard distant 

 from each other, only two thousand five hundred plants can 

 be placed there. 



When two cultivators are associated together, they ought 

 to endeavor to avoid all quarrels and law-suits. The best 

 way is to divide the nursery, in the middle, with a live 

 hedge. 



