430 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 7 



was necessm-ily very limited, and thoii<Th I was 

 satisfied ot" its superiority as (bod for silk worms, 

 I was not prepared by sufficient practice and ob- 

 servation of its character, to say that it was capa- 

 ble of supplying the place of the white mulberry. 

 I was not sure tiiat it was sufficiently hardy; nor, 

 even if every way preferable to the white, that a 

 supply could be obtained sufficient for this exten- 

 sive country. [ therefore said nothing about it in 

 that treatise, but gave the white mulberry 'he pre- 

 ference. After the publication of my treatise, 

 liowever, in 1830, I satisfied myself of the supe- 

 riority of the niulticaulis over every other variety 

 in every point. I (bund that it could be propa- 

 gated more rapidly than any other tree, by cut- 

 tings and layers, that it furnished a supply of 

 leaves in one-fourth >he time rei"|uired by the 

 white mulberry, and therefore could be made to 

 make returns ibr capital invested in it so much 

 sooner; that a pound of its leaves contained as 

 much nutritive matter as a pound and a quarter of 

 the white mulberry; that the expense and trouble 

 ol'gathering the leaves was not one-tenth as great 

 as those attending the white; that the worms con- 

 sume the whole leaf; thus leaving the hurdles less 

 encumbered with the refuse; that the silk made 

 from it was of a very superior quality, in strength 

 and lustre; and finally that the worms in all cases 

 gave it the preterence over all othtT kind?. In 

 my experiments I had the advantage of using fif- 

 teen dilferent kinds of mulberry, and have often 

 placed leaves from all of them together upon the 

 liurdies; and the silk-worms invariably seized 

 upon and consumed the morus multicaulis first. 

 Up to the present time I have found no reason to 

 change my opinion of the valuable qualities of 

 this tree in any of the above particulars; on the 

 contrary, every year has confirmed it. 



One point of comparison between the morus 

 multicaulis and other varieties I have reserved for 

 separate discussion; not from any doubt remain- 

 ing in my mind, but from its importance, viz., its 

 hardiness, or capacity for resisting the effiicts of 

 our severe winters. I have now had ten years' 

 experience, and have had the tree exposed to all 

 the severities of the last ten winters, (near Balti- 

 more,) and have never yet lost a tree, nor the limb 

 of a tree ol" the morus multicaulis, from winter 

 killing. Fortunately, the situations where I first 

 planted my trees were high and dry, and the soil 

 composed of sandy loam. The trees throve re- 

 markably well there, <Tre\v early in the season, ri- 

 pened their wood early in autumn, and withstood 

 the inclemencies of the winter, without a bud pe- 

 rishing. But some of my fi-iends to whom I had 

 given trees, and who planted them in rich low- 

 ground, lost them entirely, or had the tops killed 

 to the irround; and this fact led me to the conclu- 

 sion, that high, dry, sandy, or loamy soils, were 

 the proper situations for them; and all my future 

 experience has confirmed rne in it. All who for- 

 merly lost their trees in winter, and have removed 

 them to high situations, have experienced the 

 benefit of the change. The conclusion is, that 

 the morus multicaulis is a high-land tree, and 

 when cultivated on high grounds it is perfectly 

 liardy, and capable of whhstanding our winters, 

 as much so as any of our native trees. During 

 the winter of 1831-2, my old tree, (the first one 

 that ever came to the United States, and which I 

 yet possess,) was removed to the premises of a 



friend for safe keeping, (as I was removing to a 

 farm in the country, and not knowing how long I 

 might remain.) and was exposed to all the severi- 

 ties of that most inclement winter. I fell sure 

 that it must have been killed, if not by the winter 

 generally, certainly by that most terrible visitation 

 of liost 'on the 17th and 18th of March, 1832. 

 But to my surprise and great pleasure it did not 

 lose a bud on that occasion. What is very singu- 

 lar, there was a white mulberry tree standing 

 within 50 feet of it, six or seven years old, that 

 was killed entirely by the winter. Both were 

 equally exposed. I do not intend to inlisr from 

 this, that tiie morus multicaulis was more hardy 

 than the white; nor can I account for the death of 

 the latter; the fact however was before my eyes. 

 The trunk of the white mulberry, which was 

 about three inches diameter, was split to the 

 heart from the ground to the limbs. This old 

 multicaulis tree was again removed to its present 

 site in my garden, in the autumn of 1835, and of 

 course now receives considerable protection from 

 the house on the north, and high fences on the 

 other sides. It makes generally young wood from 

 6 to 8 feet high every year, and the leaves on the 

 young wood are generally 12 to 14 inches long, 

 and 11 to 13 wide. Besides this old tree I have 

 always had others in various situations. Those I 

 had on the farm in 1831, '32. were planted on a 

 hill, perfectly exposed to the north-west blast. 

 The (iirm is at an elevation of 3 to 400 feet above 

 tide. They witlistood the effects of the winter 

 perfectly. From all these considerations and facts, 

 1 think I am authorized in pronouncing the multi- 

 caulis perfectly hardy, when cultivated on high 

 ground — its proper situation. But it is said that 

 the multicaulis is not generally adopted in France 

 and Italy in the silk establishments; and therefore 

 there must be some fault in it. Some say it does 

 not live long — soon decays — the silk made from it 

 is weak and of a flimsy quality. All of which I 

 know, from my own experience and the experience 

 of all who have given it a trial, to be incorrect. 

 That it is not generally adopted in France and 

 Italy is easily accounted for. The demand for 

 trees has always been so great that it was found 

 more profitable to sell them than to keep them to 

 feed silk-worms with; as they could get more mo- 

 ney for one young tree than a dozen would pro- 

 duce in silk. They have also their ancient pre- 

 judices to contend with, and their ancient customs 

 to combat in France and Italy. There the mul- 

 berry trees are owned by land-holders, and the 

 leaves are sold to the raisers of silk- worms by 

 weight. These land-holders have their old white 

 mulberry trees on their estates, and they of course 

 will be compelled to get rid of them before they 

 adopt the multicaulis. These facts render it quite 

 probable that the multicaulis is not generally 

 adopted there; it would be a wonder if it were; 

 for it is not often that we find any people, French, 

 Italian, or American, willing to manufacture an 

 article, worth when made only a penny, from ma- 

 terials that he can sell for a shilling. And it is the 

 same in the United States. How many societies 

 have been incorporated for the culture of silk, and 

 how many individuals have commenced planta- 

 tions of trees lor the same purpose? And yet 

 where is the silk they have produced? We, it is 

 true, occasionally hear of this, and that person 

 having produced his hundred bushels of cocoonst 



