CULTIVATION OF THE MULBERRY. 61 



ground ought to be manured all around the tree, so that its 

 roots may penetrate and extend themselves on all sides. If 

 the foot of the mulberry tree is only watered, it will soon 

 perish. It ought not to be watered with water only, liquid 

 manure should be mixed with it. 



In two years after planting, the mulberry trees will be in 

 a flourishing condition. The part covered with earth ought 

 to be stirred every month with the hoe. Some persons turn 

 the earth up twice, to a depth of one or two feet. Then 

 the earth must be moistened with liquid manure, without 

 water. The ground all around the mulberry trees must be 

 watered, so as to reach the roots, that extend to a distance; 

 this practice must be continued until the gathering of the 

 leaves. After the lapse of three years, the mulberry trees 

 will sprout out with remarkable strength, If the vigorous 

 branches be not cut, and neither plants nor shrubs are left 

 near the mulberry trees, they will acquire new strength, 

 and the leaves that will be gathered for the raising of silk 

 worms will be luxuriant and healthy ; Soon after the 

 branches must be pruned away where they unite, and a 

 large space left around the trunk. Then the branches of 

 the following year will grow with more strength, and the 

 leaves will become thicker. If each year the superfluous 

 branches be removed in this manner, the others will become 

 flourishing. 



The silk worms ought not to be raised in the Autumn. 

 If they be, the branches of the following year will be weak 

 and delicate, and their leaves will be thin and destitute of 

 juice. 



The roots of the mulberry trees must be surrounded with 

 manure, the dung of the silk worms, ashes of rice straw, 

 mud of canals, or with rich arid fertile earth. But at the 



