4S 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. I 



loss; but the effect will be merely taking the amount 

 from one portion of the people, to give to another. In 

 the mean time, other states will, without tax or bounty, 

 receive equally the benefits of the fruits of the new bu- 

 siness supported by the treasury of Massachusetts.] 



CHINESE MULBERRY NOT PRODUCED FROM 



ITS SEEDS ON THE ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE 



OF MR. WHITMARSH. 



Judging from several recent notices in di;Terent pub- 

 lications, it seems that the opinion is now fast gaining 

 ground that t!ie Chinese Mulberry, or moms multicaidis 

 will not be reproduced, without change, from its own 

 seeds. This opinion, which we r.athered from an ex- 

 periment reported in a French jc irnal, was first made 

 known here, and supported, in tl.is journal — but with 

 so little success, for some two ye. i-s, that we made but 

 few converts to the opinion, and did not prevent a sin- 

 gle person from trusting and buying Mr. Whitmarsh's 

 "Chinese mulberry seed" — by which so many seeds- 

 men and others were deceived. Knough has been said 

 in the previous volumeof this journal of this deception 

 (to use the mildest term) practis d by Mr. Whitmarsh 

 on the public, in selling seeds as tlioseof the "Chinese 

 mulberry," by which name every buyer (and even his 

 own agents,) understood the iiiorus muliicanlis to be 

 meant. But if his defence again ;t this charge, on the 

 supposition that the sead would produce its parent 

 kind, had been as satisfactory, as it was flimsy and fu- 

 tile, he no'.v yields every previon.5 ground of defence, 

 by his admission below, that the reverse is the truth. 

 In this statement, we have full confidence, although 

 it proceeds from Mr. Whitmarsh ; and as a necessary 

 deduction from it,Neven if his seed had been what they 

 were sold for, (and afterwards admitted not to be,) they 

 would not have produced the morus multicaulis, which 

 was what the purchasers wanted, and expected. Mr. 

 Whitmarsh knowing, as he now admits, that no confi- 

 dence could be placed in such expectations, ought not 

 to have sold such seed, whether under a true, or the 

 false character under which his appeared. A petfy 

 trader and retailer of seeds might have been held ex- 

 cused, though knowing the truth of their worthless- 

 ness, if he merely sold the true seeds of the tree by 

 which they were stated to be produced. Such a sales- 

 man might be permitted to say that he sold true and 

 sound seeds of the morus multicaidis, and it was for 

 the purchasers to know whether they would yield the 



same, or run into other varieties. But this excuse 



this throwing his defence on the general ignorance of 

 purchasers — will not avail a man of Mr. Whitmarsh's 

 knowledge, wealth, and position then occupied in so- 

 ciety, and one who, professed to have been actuated 

 by the patriotic desire of benefiting his country, by ex- 

 tending mulberry and silk culture, in the best mode. 

 If the apple had been but recently introduced and cul- 

 tivated in this country, and it was known to very few 

 persons (and not suspected by others,) that the seed 

 would not produce its parent fruit, it would be a most 

 dishonest act, in one of those better informed few, to 

 sell the seeds of the Newtown pippin at hi^h prices 

 to those who ignorantly expected to raise from them i 



the like delicious fruit. But, says this patriotic dis- 

 tributor of "Chinese mulberry" seed, the product 

 might be "superior" as well as "inferior" to the ori- 

 ginal, "much depending on where the seed was raised." 

 So seed of the finest known apple may, by possibility, 

 produce a still more delicious or valuable kind ; but 

 this rare chance would scarcely lessen the general 

 average of loss and disappointment of buyers, who 

 would in almost every other case get bad fruit — and 

 not at all weaken the charge of fraud on the part of 

 the seller. As to the last quoted supposition that the 

 place from whence the seeds were derived can make 

 the product better instead of worse, its truth is yet to 

 be proved; and' as yet, it has neither probability to 

 sustain it, nor does Mr. Whitmarsh's authority give 

 this or any other statement additional strength. 



-The following paragraph is irora a letter of Mr. Whit- 

 marsh to the editor of the "Silk Culturist," published in 

 the last number of that paper. 



"Your views respecting the seed of the morus multi- 

 caulis, as expressed in your last number so nearly co- 

 incide with mine, and as I also receive frequent inqui- 

 ries by letter, "if the seed of the multicaulis will pro- 

 duce plants like those from cuttings," I ara induced to 

 trouble you with a few lines, that the matter may be 

 decided at once. My answer has invariably been that 

 they luould not, and "that the plant would be diiferent, 

 perhaps a superior or an inferior one. much depending^ 

 on where the seed were raised. Seed from my own 

 trees produced plants superior to the white, but much 

 inferior to the original seeds, which were imported 

 from Canton, three years since, by Dr. Stebbins, of 

 this place, and which he was assured were from the 

 multicaulis, produced plants, which arc in my opin- 

 ion, superior to the original — leaves, quite as large, 

 thick, fine smooth surface, and close jointed, and which 

 the worms will select, when mixed with others. It is 

 important for those who intend feeding silk worms, to 

 provide a change of food, and not depend on one sort 

 alone. When worms are falling off by disease, it will 

 be found of great service to change the food from a 

 watery, succulent leaf, to one of a drier nature ; lor 

 that purpose, buddings of some sort should be had. 

 Mulberry seed should be procured from every coun- 

 try ; from some apparently inferior, good sorts may be 

 obtained. 1 have selected plants v/ith leaves eight 

 inches over, from a hedge of common white mulberry, 

 which, by grafting and budding, may be increased to 

 any extent. There is probably no seed known so lia- 

 ble to sport, as the gardeners term it as the mtdberry, 

 I would therefore forewarn all who purchase multicau- 

 lis seed, that if they expect to produce plants like those 

 from cutiins;s, they will be disappointf^d* It is much 

 the cheapest and easiest way to j)ropagate this sort by 

 cuttings." 



Yet notwithstanding all the evidence ofl^ered on this 

 subject, advertisements from different persons are now 

 seen in the northern agricultural papers, offering for 

 sale "genuine seed of the morus multicaulis" — and if 

 we mistake not, Mr. Whitmarsh himself has made a 

 second importation of seed, which has been offered for 

 sale as certainly now of the true kind. And as man- 

 kind prefer to pay a high price for being cheated and 

 misled, to being taught truth gratuitously, we doubt 

 not but tliat more persons will be induced to buy these 

 seeds, than will be prevented, and be correctly in- 

 formed, on this subject, by the repeated exposures 

 made. 



