M O R 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



MO R 



141 



should never be suffered to grow tall, but rather kept in a 

 sort of hedge ; and instead of pulling off the leaves singly, 

 they should be sheared off together with their young branches, 

 which is sooner done, and also less injurious to the tree. 



2. Morus Nigra; Common or Black Mulberry Tree. Leaves 

 cordate, rugged. This is a stronger tree than the preceding; 

 the fruit is of a dark blackish red, and more acid. Native 

 of Persia, whence it was first brought to the southern parts 

 of Europe, and is now common wherever the winters are not 

 very severe. There is a variety with a small and flavourless 

 fruit. The fresh bark of the Mulberry root, boiled in 

 water, makes an excellent medicine for the jaundice, and 

 all complaints of the liver. It removes worms and obstruc- 

 tions, and operates by urine. There is a very pleasant syrup 

 made from the juice of the ripe fruit, with double its weight 

 of refined sugar. It is very cooling, and is excellent for sore 

 mouths, and to allay the thirst in fevers. The dry unripe 

 fruit cools, dries, and binds very much, and is therefore good 

 in purgings, bloody fluxes, immoderate menses, spitting of 

 blood, and externally iu ulcers of the mouth and parts adja- 

 cent. The ripe fruit taken before dinner promotes digestion, 

 but if taken afterwards is injurious to the stomach. The 

 berries, before they become too ripe, quench thirst and excite 

 an appetite. A gargle made of the leaves, or with the leaves 

 and bark boiled in water, is good for the tooth-ach. The 

 leaves boiled in oil, make a good ointment for burns and 

 scalds. Culture. This tree delights in rich light earth, and 

 where there is a depth of soil, as in most of the old kitchen- 

 gardens about London ; in some of which are trees of a very 

 great age, which are healthy and fruitful, and their fruit 

 larger and better flavoured than those of younger trees. In a 

 very stiff soil, or on shallow ground, whether of clay, chalk, or 

 gravel, the trunk and branches are commonly covered with 

 inoss, and the little fruit produced is small, ill-tasted, and 

 ripens late. If this tree be planted in a situation where it is 

 defended from strong south and north-west winds, it will 

 preserve the fruit from being blown off; but this shelter, 

 whether it be trees or buildings, should be at such a distance 

 as not to keep off the sun ; for where the fruit has not the 

 benefit of his rays to dissipate the morning dews early, it 

 will turn mouldy, and rot upon the trees. The old Mulberry 

 trees are not only more fruitful than the young, but their 

 fruit are much larger and better flavoured ; so that yhere 

 there are any of these old trees, it is the best way to propa- 

 gate from them, and to make choice of the most fruitful 

 branches. The usual method of propagating these trees, is 

 by laying down their branches, which will take root in one 

 year, and are then separated from the old trees ; but as the 

 most fruitful branches are often so far from the ground as not 

 to be layed, unless by raising boxes or baskets of earth upon 

 supports for this purpose, the better way is to propagate them 

 by cuttings, which, if rightly chosen and skilfully managed, 

 will take root very well ; and in this method there will be 

 no difficulty in having them from trees at a distance, and 

 from the most fruitful branches. These cuttings should be 

 shoots of the former year, with one joint of the two years' 

 wood to their bottom ; they should not be shortened, but 

 planted their full length, leaving two or three buds abore 

 ground. The best season for planting 1 them is iu March, 

 after the danger of hard frost is over; they should bo planted 

 in light rich earth, pressing the ground pretty close about 

 them ; and if they are covered with glasses, it will forward 

 their putting out roots: but where there is not such conve- 

 niency, the ground about them should be covered with moss, 

 to prevent its drying, and when this is carefully done, the 

 cuttings will require but little water, and will succeed much 



better than with having much wet. If they succeed well, 

 and make good shoots, they may be transplanted the fol- 

 lowing spring into a nursery, where they should be regularly 

 trained to stems by fixing down stakes by each, to which the 

 principal shoots should be fastened ; and most of the lateral 

 branches should be closely pruned off, leaving only two or 

 three of the weakest to detain the sap, for the augmentation 

 of the stem ; for when they are quite divested of their side- 

 shoots, the sap is mounted to the top, so that the heads of 

 the trees grow too fast for the stems, and become too weighty 

 for their support. In about four years' growth in the nursery 

 they will be fit to transplant where they are to remain ; for 

 these trees may be more safely transplanted while young than 

 when they are of a larger size. If the cuttings are planted 

 in a bed fully exposed to the sun, it will be proper to arch 

 the bed over with hoops, that they may be shaded with mats 

 in the heat of the day during spring, till they have put out 

 roots ; after which, the more they are exposed to the sun, the 

 better they will succeed, provided the ground is covered with 

 moss or mulch to prevent its drying, for the sun will harden 

 the shoots, and thereby they will be in less danger of suffer- 

 ing by the early frosts in autumn; for, when in a shady situa- 

 tion, they are apt to grow vigorously in summer, and will be 

 replete with moisture, and exposed to the early frosts in 

 October, which frequently kill their tops ; and if the succeed- 

 ing winter prove severe, they often die down to their roots, 

 and sometimes are entirely destroyed. Cuttings may be 

 planted not only in March, but also in October. To propa- 

 gate the Mulberry by layers, a number of trees must be 

 planted for stools two yards asunder. A few stools will soon 

 produce many layers, for they throw out plenty of young 

 branches when the head is taken off. When the stools have 

 shot forth young wood fit for laying, in the beginning of winter 

 let the earth be excavated round each stool, and let the pre- 

 ceding summer shoots be slit at a joint, and laid therein, fix- 

 ing them down with a peg, filling the interstices with fine 

 mould, levelling the ground, and cutting the young twigs to 

 one eye above the surface. In the autumn following, the layers 

 will all probably have taken good root, and have made a con- 

 siderable shoot in the stem, so that they will be ready for the 

 nursery-ground, in which they are to be managed in the same 

 way as the seedlings. The second year after, the stools will 

 have a second crop of young wood for laying. Mulberry 

 trees may also be increased by cuttings planted at the end 

 of June or the beginning of July, in pots, plunged up to their 

 rims in the stove, where, if water and shade be constantly 

 afforded them, they will strike root, and become good plants. 

 If an old Mulberry tree becomes a bad bearer, or casts the 

 fruit before it is ripe, cut a trench two feet deep round the 

 tree, and about four feet from the trunk ; fill it with fresh 

 mould enriched with cow-dung; and, as the large root smay 

 be raised without inconvenience, let the compost be put under 

 them so as to make the bed, over which the tree stands, as 

 rich as possible. At the same time let the iold wood be cut 

 from the head of the tree, that the young may have space to 

 grow. Observe also, that if you expect plenty of fruit, the 

 ground must not be disturbed near the tree, for the feeding 

 fibres of the roots will otherwise be cut off by the spade 

 when the fruit requires the greatest nourishment. There is 

 never any occasion for pruning these trees, beyond cutting 

 off any of the branches which may go across others, so as to 

 rub and wound their bark by their motion ; for their shoots 

 should never be shortened, because the fruit is produced on 

 the young wood. The Mulberry is remarkable for putting 

 out its leaves late; so that when they appear, the gardener 

 may take it for granted that all danger from frost is over. 



