172 [ THE BLACK MULBERRY 



hold on the ground. Trees recently planted should be 

 well watered at least during the first two summers. 

 This is practically the only attention required to prevent 

 failures, besides aiding the young trees to establish 

 themselves more quickly. The tree will commence to 

 bear fruit when quite young, from the second or third 

 year after planting, every year increasing the yield 

 until the 25th or 3Oth when the tree reaches full size. 

 Afterwards the growth becomes slow, but the production 

 is kept up for many years, trees over a hundred years 

 old continuing to yield a normal production of fruits 

 of good quality. 



CULTIVATION. Like the fig tree and the common 

 mulberry, the black mulberry is a surface feeder, and 

 therefore when manuring the soil for other crops deep 

 trenching in close proximity to the stem should be 

 avoided, as otherwise many surface roots will have to 

 be cut, and bruises of the main roots are dangerous 

 because they may be followed by an attack of the 

 dreaded root fungus. Where the soil is not cropped 

 regularly, it should be tilled lightly first in autumn 

 and again in mid-winter, and a third time rather deeply 

 towards the close of March, and the ground being 

 then properly levelled may remain untouched until 

 next autumn. 



It is advisable to trench the soil lightly and 

 carefully to a depth not exceeding 15 c. m. every 

 fourth or sixth year, towards the close of autumn, at 

 the same time giving a substantial dressing of manure. 

 This attention is particularly required if the foliage of 

 the tree is habitually fed to animals, or if the dropped 

 leaves are made use of as bedding for the stable, as 

 in these cases the tree is deprived of the fertilizing 

 material resulting from the natural decay of the foliage. 



Pruning is done in winter, and should be limited 

 to the proper thinning of superfluous twigs and small 



