FRUITS 29 



THE MULBERRY 



Mrs. Loudon says that the mulberry has several 

 peculiarities in its habits which distinguish it from 

 other trees, and one is that it can be propagated by 

 truncheons, that is, if a large limb of a tree be cut 

 off and stuck into the ground it will grow without 

 any further trouble being taken with it, and pro- 

 bably the next year or the year after it will bear 

 abundance of fruit The mulberry is also later 

 than any other tree in coming into leaf ; but when 

 it does, the leaves are expanded and the young 

 fruit is formed in a very short time. Having had, 

 unfortunately, no experience with mulberry trees, 

 I cannot do better than quote Mrs. Loudon's 

 information. 



She says that old mulberry trees frequently 

 split in five or six different parts, each of which in 

 time becomes surrounded with bark, so that a very 

 old and thick trunk appears changed into five or six 

 slender ones. The branches also, if they lie along 

 the ground, take root and become trees ; and that 

 if an old mulberry tree is blown down, every branch 

 sends roots into the ground, and in a very short 

 time becomes a mulberry tree ; and even when 

 apparently dead it may be resuscitated most times 

 by cutting it down to just above the collar, when it 

 will send up a number of young stems which will 

 soon be covered with the fruit. 



Mulberry trees will grow in any ordinary 

 garden or field, if not too clayey. They do not 

 require manuring till they grow old and cease pro- 



