THE BLACK MULBERRY ] 173 



branches in order to admit air, without interfering with 

 the natural globular or hemispherical shape of the 

 tree. All dead wood should be removed by a clean 

 cut just within the living tissues. At the same time 

 the pruner will remove any drooping branches which 

 are too close to the ground and are too much shaded 

 by other branches above them. Large wounds are 

 always dangerous, but if unavoidable they should be 

 painted over at once with tar, or with some other 

 protective mixture, giving no time to the spores of 

 fungi to establish themselves on the exposed wood. 

 Pruning will cause a rather copious flow of latex or 

 milk even in winter when the tree is leafless, and it 

 is therefore important to perform the operation when 

 a dry north wind is blowing so that the wounds may 

 dry soon, as a prolonged flow of sap may become 

 exhausting. 



When fully established the black mulberry does 

 not require irrigation, but the fruit will be much finer 

 in size, and better in quality, if the tree is watered 

 twice or thrice from May to July, especially in warm 

 and dry situations. 



The fruit begins to ripen in May, and may be 

 picked every two or three days. The tree continues 

 to ripen its fruits often well into August, but the late 

 fruit is often small and contains too many seeds, their 

 central stalk or core also becomes cough. The fruit 

 is picked by hand, but our gardeners have an ingenious 

 way of picking the fruit by means of a strong thread 

 or thin cord tightly strung by a small piece of reed 

 or other elastic material, about 30 c. m, long bent in 

 the shape of a bow. With a little practice the use 

 of this bow become more easy than direct hand picking, 

 and besides presenting the great advantage that the 

 fruit is not touched by the hand, it also protects the 

 fruit better from undue squeezing or injury during 

 picking. The pickers of the fruit, even when using 



