THE MULBEKRY. 231 



Like the strawberry, the mulberry does not undergo 

 the acetous fermentation in the stomach, and may there- 

 fore be safely eaten by the most delicate. Among the 

 E-omans it had further a great medicinal reputation, espe- 

 cially with regard to diseases of the throat and windpipe, 

 and its syrup is still thought to be good for sore throats. 

 It affords an excellent preserve, though not put to this 

 use so often as it might be ; is capable of being made 

 into wine, which, however, is never found to keep long ; 

 and brandy, but of a very weak sort, has also sometimes 

 been distilled from it. As it falls from the tree (mostly 

 during September) as soon as it is ripe, it is usual to have 

 a grass-plot beneath, in order to furnish a carpet on which 

 the fruit may descend without soil or injury ; but as bare 

 earth, offeriug a dark surface, causes a greater radiation 

 of heat, and thus promotes the ripening process, a supe- 

 rior plan is to sow cress-seed thickly under the tree a few 

 weeks before its produce is matured, and thus provide a 

 temporary covering for the ground at the time when it is 

 needed ; or, better still, a net may be suspended among 

 the branches, to catch the luscious shower as it drops. 

 The harvest is usually abundant, and an instance has 

 been known of as many as 80 quarts a week having been 

 gathered during the season from a single famous tree at 

 Greenwich. 



The plant ordinarily becomes more prolific as it in- 

 creases in age, while the fruit also improves in quality ; 

 a good compensation for its barrenness in youth, for 

 (unless grafted) it does not usually bear at all until it 

 has attained a rather advanced age, since, like most plants 

 which bring forth distinct male and female flowers, only 

 the former are produced at first, and it is not until Nature's 

 " 'prentice hand" has been "tried" for some years upon 

 these, that she proceeds to fashion her vegetable Eves. 

 Recent experiments, however, have shown that it is pos- 

 sible to make the mulberry bear fruit when only three 

 years old. Its propagation is by no means difficult, for a 

 branch torn off and thrust at once into the ground readily 

 takes root, and becomes ere long a tree, while so tenacious 

 is it of life, that roots have been known to send up shoots 



