1838J 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



495 



and poorest lands may be made to produce trees 6 

 or 6, or 7 feet higli. 



" Please inform me what, was Sydney VVeller's 

 mode ofsavinfT liis immature cuttintrs- I heard tiiee 

 detail it, but perhaps I have forgotten some part." 



In answer to the foregoing inquiry, and for the 

 benefit of all others of our readers, the inlbrma- 

 tion derived from Mr. Welier's statement of his 

 practice will here be given. 



All who have observed the morus multicaulis, 

 know that the plants of one year's growth have a 

 large proportion of the latest formed stem and 

 branches so green and tender as to be unfit to 

 withstand severe frosts. This part of the plants, 

 (with all the buds thereon, though frequently 

 amounting to one-fifth, or more, of the whole 

 numberon the plant,) has,until lately, been deemed 

 worthless, and taken no account of in sales, or in 

 planting. But in our own small practice, it was 

 observed last spring, when the plants were taken 

 out of the earth under which they had been kept 

 through winter, that the unripe buds, to the very 

 extremities of the twigs, had begun to start in 

 growth, and of course that they possessed enough 

 vital power to produce plants, if properly man- 

 aged. The proportion of unripe wood this year 

 is unusually great, owing to the early and con- 

 tinued drought of summer having been followed by 

 abundant late rains. After the first year, there is 

 very little of the wood left unripe, as the branches 

 generally ripen to the ends. 



Mr. VVeller had earlier learned the vital power 

 and value of these unripe buds, and has practised 

 with success the following manner of saving them 

 separately. As soon as there has been frost 

 enough for the leaves to fall off' and before any 

 more severe cold weather follows, all the unripe 

 ends of branches and stems are cut off, including 

 about an inch, or one bud, of the adjoining ripe 

 wood below. These are laid in a shallow pit or 

 trench, or even on the cleanly scraped surface of 

 the earth, eo as not to be more than four inches 

 thick ; and then are covered over with clean and 

 friable soil, (sand would be better,) which is to 

 fill up all vacancies between the twigs, as well as 

 to cover them. Then, any kind of earth may be 

 heaped on, so as to cover the twigs 12 or 18 inches 

 deep, if freezing is feared ; though a few inches 

 depth has always proved sufficient. As in all 

 other cases of winter-pits or trenches to contain 

 multicaulis plants, the access of too much water 

 from rains should be prevented, by choosing an 

 elevated spot, or surrounding it with a ditch. Mr. 

 Pleasants' views and advice as to choosing a cold 

 situation, to prevent the too early springing of the 

 huds, are likely to give still greater value to this 

 practice of saving and using unripe buds. Mr. 

 Weller relies on his unripe buds, saved as above, 

 to be nearly as certain as the ripest, to vegetate 

 and produce well ; and this information may be 



worth several hundreds of dollars, this year, to 

 every one who has as much as an acre in multi- 

 caulis plants. It is highly necessary to avoid 

 having any vegetable matter in contact with the 

 buried twigs ; as mouldinesa and rotting will be 

 produced, and perhaps may epread beyond the 

 twigs first affected. 



As to the capacity of the unripe buds to ger- 

 minate and to produce good plants, if preserved 

 properly through Vv^inter, (without being cut from 

 the plants,) we knew it likewise from the informa- 

 tion of John E. Meade, esq., of Prince George, 

 who availed of the knowledge so well that he 

 hae now as many growing trees as he bought eat- 

 ings last spring — the unripe buds, which were not 

 charged, having fully made up for all the failures 

 of the ripe. By the way, the cuttings bought by 

 Mr. Meade last spring, cost him (at an unusually 

 low price) ^10, and the crop from them is worth 

 ^1000, at the present enormous prices and ready 

 sales. 



We saw Mr. Welier's nursery, (in Halifax 

 county, N. C.,) on October 16th. Tender plants, 

 (such as sweet potato vines,) had then been partly 

 killed by frost, but his mulberries were barely 

 touched, on some of the youngest top leaves, and 

 may grow, or ripen, much more yet. He had 

 worked the ground as late as in August ; and 

 that, (as we think, improperly late cultivation,) 

 as well as the late rains, had caused a very late 

 growth, and an unusually larcje proportion of 

 unripe wood and buds. He does not trouble him- 

 self to cut down and cover, or to use any other 

 means to protect in winter, any of his plants, ex- 

 cept the unripe extremities of branches. He con- 

 siders all the ripe wood as perfectly safe. This is 

 a most important advantage of the climate of 

 North Carolina and Virginia. But though cut- 

 ting down the entire plant is unnecessary to pro- 

 tect the ripe woo'd from cold, still as it will be done 

 at any rate, for cuttings, while the great demand 

 lasts, it will be better to cut off and bury the en- 

 tire stems and tops, to better protect the unripe buds. 



Mr. Welier's nursery ground is quite sandy, 

 and it had been very poor, and most of it is now 

 far from rich. Yet his one-year's plants are ge- 

 nerally four and sometimes six feet high; showing 

 the great advantage of using the lightest soil. 

 At Gaston, on the rich as well as light soil of the 

 Roanoke low-grounds, a small patch, belonging 

 to W. W. Wilkins, esq., would average certainly 

 150 good buds, (and he thinks 200) on the plants 

 of this year's growth. It is certainly the finest 

 growth we have seen. These plants, from buds 

 planted last spring, in seven months thereafter 

 would readily sell for |j3 a-piece — perhaps for ^5, 

 at the present-prices. Some waste building lime 

 had been given to this spot. We had been be- 

 fore inclmcd to believe that calcareous manures are 



