28 SILK GROWER'S GUIDE. 



the food of the silk-worm. Those most esteemed and 

 known are the Morus Alba, or Common White Mul- 

 berry, and the Morus Multicaulis, or Chinese Mulberry. 

 This last named is black, 



The nourishment which is contained in the mulberry 

 leaf is not completely developed till the leaf is fully 

 grown. The leaf, according to the analysis of Count 

 Dandolo, contains 1. The fibrous substance ; 2. The 

 coloring matter; 3. Water; 4. The saccharine sub- 

 stance ; 5. The resinous substance. The saccharine 

 substance is that which nourishes the insect, augmenting 

 its growth and size. The resinous substance, is that 

 which, "separating itself gradually from the leaf and at- 

 tracted by the animal organization, accumulates, cleans 

 itself, and insensibly fills the two reservoirs or silk ves- 

 sels." The proportion of this nutriment depends on the 

 variety of the mulberry, the age, the soil, arid the moist- 

 ure or dryness of the season. 



SECTION VI. 



VARIETIES. 

 BLACK MULBERRY. (Mouus KIGRA.) 



A TREE which rises from twenty-five to thirty feet 

 a native of Asia Minor. The leaves are large and rug- 

 ged. Its fruit is large, black, aromatic, juicy, subacid 

 and good. An agreeable wine is made from its juice. 

 The juice is used for imparting a dark color to liquors ; 

 the bark of the black mulberry is a powerful cathartic; 

 and from the bark of the tree, strong cordage and brown 

 paper is made. The leaves will answer for the food of 

 the silk-worms, and are much used in Persia and also in 

 Granada, and it is supposed by them that the black mul- 



