174 [ THE BLACK MULBERRY 



the bow, cannot avoid soiling their hands with the 

 blood-red juice. To remove this they moisten their 

 hands with the juice of the half ripe scarlet fruit, 

 squeezing it between the fingers, and wash at once in 

 clear water. Spots of the juice on clothing are removed 

 readily by moistening lightly with water and exposing 

 them to the fumes of burning sulphur. 



The fruit of the black mulberry is eaten chiefly 

 at breakfast, as fresh from the tree as possible, and 

 is both very wholesome and agreeable to the taste. 

 It is supposed to have powerful antiscorbutic qualities, 

 and is used as a depurative of the blood, in the fresh 

 state as well as in the form of jam or syrup. 



DJSEASKS. The tree is liable to the same diseases 

 as the white mulberry. It is rather less subject to 

 root-rot, but attacks of PhyUosticta morifolia Pass, are 

 more frequent and often severer on the. black mulberry ; 

 however the infection is rarely severe enough to cause 

 defoliation before the ripening of the fruit. 



