THE MULBERRY. 145 



and keep them in close-stopped vessels, for the food 

 of the silk-worm, if it be produced before the younj^ 

 leaves of the tree are ready for its support. When 

 cultivated for its fruit, the mulberry, unlike most 

 other fruit-trees, produces fruit in greater abund- 

 ance and of larger size as it gets older ; and, as 

 its dense and dark foliage forms a fine contrast with 

 trees of more airy form and lighter hue, it is a very 

 ornamental tree. 



The Paper Mulberry {Broussonetia papyriferd), is 

 a native of China and Japan, the South Sea Islands, 

 and some parts of America. It does not attain a 

 very great height, but it shoots vigorously, and is a 

 very branchy tree. Its fruit is black, purple, and 

 sweet, but small — not larger, in general, than a 

 common pea. 



It is cultivated in Japan for the manufacture of 

 paper; and from this circumstance it gets its spe- 

 cific name. For this purpose it is raised in beds, 

 as osiers are cultivated with us for the use of the 

 basket-maker and the cooper. When the leaves have 

 fallen otF, that is, about the month of December, the 

 shoots are cut down, divided into lengths of about 

 three feet, bound into b\indles, placed vipi'ight and 

 close together in a copper, and boiled till the bark be 

 completely loosened from the wood. Should they be 

 dry before being subjected to boiling, they are pre- 

 pared for that operation by maceration in water for 

 twenty-four hours. After the rods are cold, the bark 

 is divided lengthwise by a knife, stripped off, and 

 dried for use. When to be vised, it is put into water 

 till it is so much soaked that the external and 

 coloured part of the bark can be separated. That 

 being done, the bark is sorted, the strongest being set 

 apart for the best and whitest paper, and the weaker 

 for that of inferior quality ; while of the refuse they 

 make a very coarse brown paper. The sorted bark is 



o 



