are valuable in the silk which they produce by nourishing 

 the silk worm ; its fruit is excellent for poultry, and the 

 wood is useful for the joiner and for fuel. The mul- 

 berry tree may also serve as an ornament to our gardens 

 and streets, very different from the Lornbardy poplar, 

 which harbors a loathsome insect, or the elm, or the ash, 

 which are barren and do not afford so thick a shade ; and 

 as this tree is always handsome and useful, the Author of 

 nature has been pleased to add cleanliness, as on account 

 of the acrid bitterness of its sap but few insects will har- 

 bor upon it. 



The first mulberry tree that was planted in Franca 

 was near Montelimart, and nearly three centuries after 

 (in 1802) the original tree was still in existence. 



In England it was first planted in the year 1548 ; Mr 

 Phillips saw at Sion House the original trees. He found 

 their interior so decayed that the timber crumbled on 

 being touched : the propped branches were nevertheless 

 so well nourished, that the fruit and foliage were not in- 

 ferior to those of the youngest trees. Of the plantations 

 formed during the reign of James I. many venerable 

 remains are still seen in England. Mr Phillips found a 

 black mulberry tree in a garden adjoining Greenwich 

 Park, which is supposed to be one of the oldest in 

 England. ' It throws out,' says Mr P., * ten large branch- 

 es so near the earth, that it has the appearance of half a 

 score of large trees rather than one, and notwithstanding 

 many of the projecting branches have been sawed off, it 

 completely covers a circumference of one hundred and 

 fifty feet ; and although the elder trees have fixed their 

 abode in some parts of the trunk and other parts are 

 covered with ivy, it continues to give shoots as vigorous 



