CHAP, i S Y L V A 207 



or at least hack it, though some slit the foot, inserting 

 a stone, or grain of an oat, to suckle and entertain 

 the plant with moisture. 



6. They may also be propagated by graffing them 

 on the black mulberry in Spring, or inoculated in 

 July, taking the cyons from some old tree, that has 

 broad, even, and round leaves, which causes it to 

 produce very ample and tender leaves, of great emol- 

 ument to the silk-master. 



7. Some experienc'd husbandmen advise to poll 

 our mulberries every three or four years, as we do 

 our willows; others not till 8 years; both erroneously. 

 The best way is yearly to prune them of their dry 

 and superfluous branches, and to form their heads 

 round and natural. The first year of removal where 

 they are to abide, cut off all the shoots, to five or six 

 of the most promising ; the next year leave not above 

 three of these, which dispose in triangle as near as 

 may be, and then disturb them no more, unless it be 

 to purge them (as we taught) of dead scare-wood, 

 and extravagant parts, which may impeach the rest ; 

 and if afterward any prun'd branch shoot above three 

 or four cyons, reduce them to that number. One of 

 the best ways of pruning is, what they practise in 

 Sicily and Provence, to make the head hollow, and 

 like a bell, by cleansing them of their inmost 

 branches ; and this may be done, either before they 

 bud, viz. in the new-moon of March, or when they 

 are full of leaves in June or July, if the season prove 

 any thing fresh. Here I must not omit what I read 

 of the Chinese culture, and which they now also 

 imitate in Virginia, where they have found a way to 

 raise these plants of the seeds, which they mow and 

 cut like a crop of grass, which sprout, and bear leaves 



