84 MOLTKIA MORUS 



Certainly no little shrub of its type deserves better care ; it lasts in flower 

 a good while, and no prettier or more dainty plant exists when every 

 twig is crowned by the brilliantly coloured blossoms. The flowers have 

 much the same arrangement as in the common borage ; they are closely 

 set, and open successively on the upper side of a stalk which becomes 

 decurved. Summer cuttings take root readily. It needs a light, well- 

 drained soil and a sunny position. Out of flower it has much the 

 appearance of lavender. 



MORUS. MULBERRY. URTICACE^. 



Of the dozen or so species of Mulberry known, three or four can be 

 grown without protection in the south of Britain. These are (with us) 

 small, bushy-headed trees, with alternate, deciduous, toothed, and often 

 variously lobed leaves. The flowers are unisexual, the sexes borne on 

 separate spikes, which are small, more or less cylindrical, and of no 

 beauty. The "fruit" of the mulberry is really a fruit cluster, composed 

 of closely packed drupes, each enclosed by the persistent, enlarged, 

 succulent sepals. 



Mulberry trees like a warm, well-drained, loamy soil, and M. nigra 

 especially is worth growing for its luxuriant leafage and picturesque form. 

 It is not much planted now, but nothing gives to a garden fortunate 

 enough to possess it a greater sense of old-world charm and dignity than 

 a rugged old mulberry standing on a lawn. It can be increased by 

 summer cuttings with the greatest ease the old writers say pieces 8 ft. 

 or more long will grow. Branches broken down but not detached will 

 usually take root if they touch the ground. M. alba will also root from 

 autumn or winter cuttings. 



M. ALBA, Linnceus. WHITE MULBERRY. 



A deciduous tree, 30 to 45 ft. high, with a rounded head of branches and a 

 trunk 6 ft. in girth ; young shoots downy at first, becoming more or less smooth 

 by autumn. Leaves broadly ovate with a heart-shaped base, usually pointed 

 sometimes rounded at the apex, frequently three-lobed ; varying much in size, 

 from 3 to 8 ins. long and up to 6 ins. wide ; coarsely toothed, lightish green 

 and only slightly roughened above, downy near the veins and midrib 

 beneath ; stalk \ to I in. long. Flowers produced during May in the leaf- 

 axils and at the "base of the new shoots ; females on stalked cylindrical spikes 

 \ to in. long ; male spikes longer. Fruit-clusters \ to I in. long, white or 

 pinkish, sweet, insipid. 



Native of China, and possibly of other parts of temperate Asia ; cultivated 

 from time immemorial in many South European and Eastern countries. In 

 the old Dalmatian towns, like Ragusa and Spalato, old trees with rugged 

 trunks give great charm to the streets ; they are pruned back every winter. 

 The white mulberry is the tree on which the silkworm is fed. It succeeds 

 quite well in the south of England, but no success has ever been achieved in 

 establishing the silkworm industry there in spite of several attempts, the first 

 of which was made under the auspices of James I. The climate is considered 

 to be too dull and damp. Nevertheless the tree is quite hardy at Kew, and 

 over 30 ft. high, with a trunk 12 to 18 ins. in diameter; succulent, over- 



