RUSSIAN MULBERRY. 71 



Its Fruit. With very few exceptions all the trees of this now 

 growing in this country have been propagated from seed, and as 

 with most other fruits, not one seedling in five hundred produces 

 fruit of value. Most seedlings have very small fruit, while others 

 are staminate and have no fruit at all. Quite frequently some 

 trees will bear fruit as large as a medium-sized blackberry, and 

 occasionally considerably larger. The quality of the fruit varies 

 nearly as much as the size of the berries ; some being insipid and 

 even unpleasant, while others are sweet and agreeable, but like all 

 mulberries, they lack high quality. They are quite soft when ripe 

 and quickly fall to the ground, which should be kept smooth so 

 that they may be readily gathered. It is at its best just as it falls 

 from the tree. It generally commences to ripen just before the 

 first currants, and continues ripening for a week or more. It gen- 

 erally resembles the blackberry in appearance, but the fruit of 

 some seedlings is nearly white in color, though the latter are sel- 

 dom, if ever, as good eating as the black. The age at which plants 

 commence to produce fruit varies greatly, but when five or six 

 years old they may be expected to commence fruiting, and as they 

 grow older their fruitf ulness increases. As a market fruit it prob- 

 ably has no value, but a few trees should be in every garden. 

 Children generally relish the fruit, and the birds let other fruit 

 alone to feed on it= It is also used for sauce and pies, but for this 

 purpose something should be added to it for flavor. 



Propagation. The seed grows readily if sown as soon as 

 ripe. For this purpose the berries may be crushed in dry sand 

 and sown with it in a rather moist, somewhat shady situation. In 

 two years the seedlings may be transplanted to the permanent 

 location, but these vary much in their productiveness, and while 

 for a wind-break they many answer as well as any, yet when 

 plants are wanted for fruit they should be grown from cuttings or 

 layers of the best kinds, or by grafting on seedling stocks. For 

 this purpose the cuttings should be made in the fall, about twelve 

 inches long of the old wood, and be deeply planted in rich land, 

 with not more than two buds above the surface. The branches 

 root easily wnen layered, and if the earth is drawn up around the 

 sprouts until they root they make good plants. 



Varieties. There are no named kinds offered by nurserymen, 

 and it is necessary to depend on chance seedlings. However, if 

 any large wind- creak is looked over in the fruiting season one or 

 more trees can generally be picked out that bear fruit of exceptional 

 value, and such may readily be increased. The flowers are of two 

 kinds; sometimes both staminate (male) and pistillate (female) 

 are on one tree, and sometimes a single tree is limited to one sex. 

 On this account some care is necessary in selecting a variety to get 

 one with both kinds of flowers, or else plant the pistillate kind 

 near a tree having staminate flowers. 



