308 MULBERRY. 



are raised from cuttings, three or four of which are placed 

 together, where they are finally to remain. 



But Mulberry trees are valuable for their fruit ; and in 

 England the black and red kinds are in great esteem, and 

 much cultivated. The fruit of the white Mulberry is white, 

 and less acid than that of the black species. The black is 

 naturally a stronger tree than the other ; the fruit is of a 

 dark blackish red, and of an agreeable aromatic and acid 

 flavour. The red Mulberry has black shoots, rougher 

 leaves than the black Mulberry, and a dark reddish fruit, 

 longer than the common sort, and of a very pleasant taste. 

 The fruit of the yellow Mulberry is very sweet and whole- 

 some, but not much eaten, excepting by birds ; the timber, 

 however, is valuable, from its abounding in a slightly gluti- 

 nous milk of a sulphureous colour, and is known in Europe 

 under the name of fustic wood, for dying a yellow colour. 



In Russia, the fruit of the Morus tartarica is eaten fresh, 

 conserved, or dried ; a wine and a spirit are also made 

 from them, but the berries are said to be of an insipid taste. 



All species of the Morus are remakable for putting out 

 their leaves late, so that when they appear, gardeners may 

 safely set out their greenhouse plants, taking it for granted 

 that all danger from frost is over ; from this circumstance, 

 plantations of Mulberry trees may be made in this country 

 in the Spring of the year with greater safety.. 



The Mulberry produces its fruit chiefly on little shoots of 

 the same year, which arise on last year's wood and on 

 spurs from the two year old wood ; in both stages, mostly 

 at the ends of the shoots and the branches. In pruning, 

 thin out irregular crossing branches, but never shorten the 

 young wood, on which the fruit is produced. If any of th 

 dwarfish kinds are cultivated as espaliers for their fruits, cut 

 so as to bring in a partial succession of new wood every 

 year, and a complete succession once in two years, taking 

 the old barren wood out, as may be necessary. As tbe 

 blossom buds cannot be readily distinguished from others in 

 the Winter, the best period for pruning is when the blossom* 

 ftrst become visible in the Spring. 



There is another genus of plants, ki vn as the Paper 



