FRUIT-GARDENING. 127 



berry, which is very ornamental, called Broussonetia papyrifera. 

 Though a low tree, it has vigorous shoots, furnished with two 

 large leaves. The fruit, which is small, is surrounded with 

 long purple hairs, changing to a black purple color when ripe, 

 and full of juice. " In China and Japan it is cultivated for 

 the sake of the young shoots, from the bark of which the in- 

 habitants of the Eastern countries make paper. The bark 

 being separated from the wood, is steeped in water, the former 

 making the whitest and best paper. The bark is next slowly 

 boiled, then washed, and afterwards put upon a wooden table, 

 and beat into a pulp, which being put in water, separates like 

 grains of meal. An infusion of rice, and the root of manihot, 

 are next added to it. From the liquor so prepared, the sheets 

 of paper are poured out one by one, and when pressed the 

 operation is finished." 



" The juice of this tree is sufficiently tenacious to be used 

 in China as a glue, in gilding either leather or paper. The 

 finest and whitest cloth worn by the principal people at Ota- 

 heite, and in the Sandwich Islands, is made of the bark of this 

 tree. The cloth of the Bread Fruit tree is inferior in whiteness 

 and softness, and worn chiefly by the common people." 



VALUE OF THE WOOD. 



The wood of Mulberry is more durable than the best of 

 White Oak, when it is exposed to the influences of the weather. 

 For fence-posts, it will out-last white cedar ; and it is nearly 

 equal in durability to red cedar. I know of posts in Connec- 

 ticut that have been set in the ground for fifty years and are 

 yet sound. 



NECTARINE. 



PECHERA FRUIT LISSE, ou BRUGNONS. Amygdalus nectarina. 



The varieties of this fruit resemble the Peach in every 



respect, except that the skin is smooth, of a waxen appearance, 



