M 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 1 



Btitution; to educate it like a child; in short, to 

 make it as hardy as an apple tree I Of all the 

 empirical pretensions which Mr. Prince has set 

 up, none is more vain and ridiculous than this. 

 There is no instance on record, of a tender plant 

 becoming acclimated in such a brief period. Here- 

 tofore this process has been the work of aj^es; and 

 whenever the removal has been so distant from its 

 native clime as that of the multicaulis, the attain- 

 ment of the object has been but imperlectly 

 achieved at last. But in eight years, at most, the 

 multicaulis, a native of the Phillippine Islands^ 

 has been endowed with the constitution of the rtp- 

 ple tree, by the potent spells of Mr. Prince. Tru- 

 ly the discovery of the philosopher's stone would 

 not have been more marvellous than this sudden 

 metamorphosis. Even the peach, vvhieh has been 

 two centuries in America, has not become accli- 

 mated to every part of New England; and the 

 Catalpa, the Pride of India, the fig, and the Eu- 

 ropean vine, some of which are natives of extra- 

 tropical regions, do not withstand, without protec- 

 tion, the severity of milder winters than those of 

 New England. On this subject of the acclima- 

 tion of the multicaulis, I beg leave to refer the 

 readers of Mr. Prince's letter, to an article in the 

 last number of the 'Magazine of Horticulture,' 

 published at Boston, which reached me by the 

 same mail that brought me the Farmers' Regis- 

 ter. That article comes from a most respectable 

 source; not less respectable than Mr. Prince, and 

 quite as disinterested; and expresses the convic- 

 tion, sustained by facts, that the multicaulis will 

 not answer the purposes of silk culture in the New 

 England states. We are informed by the editor, 

 that the aggregate number of trees has not been 

 increased for some years; and that many thou- 

 sands of them have been totally destroyed. But 

 Mr. Prmce has not only over-rated the value of 

 the multicaulis, as applicable to the climate of 

 New England and New York, but he has been 

 assiduously engaged in depreciating those varie- 

 ties of the mulberry which can alone withstand 

 the seventy of such a climate. Witness his let- 

 ter to the 'Wisconsin Culturist' — his numerous ad- 

 vertisemel»-ts, claiming for himself" the merit of 

 vuv.''in£r nothing of the '^humbug kind'''' — and his 

 attempts, covtrtas well as open, to put down the 

 Alpine mulberry^ ^vhich has been gradually gain- 

 ing in public estimai'.-^n in the northern states, not- 

 withstanding the mill-rtone that has been hung 

 around its neck. One might suppose that in the 

 Alpme, Mr. Prince has behe'.a the ghost of Ban- 

 quo, in a fair way of reclaitning (he rights of 

 which it has been unjustly afid^insidiously de- 

 prived. This variety, (the morus moretti or M. 

 macrophylla of Europe) has wi hstO'..J, without 

 being scathed, a degree of cold vvhich has been 

 destructive to the multicaulis. I e growth is ra- 

 pid; it is readily multiplied by cuttings; and in 

 amount of foliage it is barely surpassed by the 

 multicaulis itself. When all delusion shall have 

 passed away, it will take a rank in the northern 

 states, similar to that which is now hold by the 

 multicaulis in the states south of New York. 



In making these remarks, I am actuated only 

 by a regard for the interests and success of the 

 silk culture. However desirable it might be, (and 

 to none would it be more desirable than to my- 

 self,) that the multicaulis should justify the charac- 

 ter for hardiness which Mr. Prince has given of it, 



yet ;t carinot, and ought not to be recommended 

 ae otieriivg a safe reliance for those who are at- 

 tempting to introduce the culture into the interior 

 of Nciv Ai]ngland, and New York. If it can ever 

 be ea;'-!.<l fi'om destruction, it must be by treating 

 it «'= a 'perennial or herbaceous plant. Two intelli- 

 gent gentlemen from Connecticut, who have re- 

 cently passed through our state, have confessed 

 as much; though, even under this disadvantage, 

 they placed a high value upon it. 



So much for Mr. Prince's arguments, and specu- 

 j lations. Let us now examine a little into his fiicts, 

 and see if they are not equally as convenient to 

 him. He has condemned southern trees, and af- 

 firms /hat in the northern markets they do not 

 comnt)and as high prices as those of his own 

 grovv'Ui. He even appeals to the dealers of Bur- 

 lington aUft Philadelphia, in confirmation of his 

 assertion. I happen to know something of the 

 facts of vlie case; and if Mr. Prince is really so ig- 

 norant of them, he might also be greatly enlight- 

 ened on some points, by consulting those gentle- 

 men. He would not find it difficult to learn that 

 they do decidedly prefer the trees of Virginia and 

 Carolina, to those of ihe Linna^an Botanic Gar- 

 dens. During a sojourn in those cities, during the 

 past summer, it was made no secret, that southern 

 trees commanded the preference, particularly aa 

 stock for planting; on account of the superior ma- 

 turity of the buds. It was the first time I had 

 heard the admission so freely made; and I consid- 

 ered it alike liberal, and creditable to their candor. 

 A gentleman near Philadelphia, in his zeal in fa- 

 vor of southern trees, took me to his mulberry 

 plantation, some miles distant, to show me the 

 marked diflierence in growth between plants rais- 

 ed from Carolina cuttmgs, and those obtained from 

 his own vicini»ty, all growing side by side, in land 

 of the same quality. Those that were procured 

 farthest south were so much larger, and more vi- 

 gorous, that one might have supposed the ground 

 on which they stood had been doubly manured. 

 The Florida and Mobile trees were but little known. 

 Those which had tieen received, arrived so late in 

 the season, that no correct judgment could be pass- 

 ed upon their merits for propagation. It was 

 thought probable, however, by some, but given 

 merely as a matter of opinion, that on account of 

 the rapidity of their growth, the fibre of the wood 

 might be soft and spongy, and therefore, not so fit 

 for planting. But this objection, even if well 

 founded, could avail Mr. Prince nothing, since he 

 is in the habit of using immature buds in his plan- 

 tations. In his rejoinder to Mr. Roberts, he con- 

 tends that they are more prompt to vegetate, and 

 that they produce as good tiees as the matur- 

 ed buds. Perhaps Mr. Prince's ingenuity can 

 alone solve the question, whether the ripe wood 

 of the south, or the immature wood of the north, 

 would have a tendency to continue the growth of 

 its offspring to the latest period in autumn? By 

 the way, this practice of planting green buds is a 

 happy commentary on Mr. Prince's claims in re- 

 gard to tiie acclimation of the nmlticaulis. It is one 

 way of acclimating a plant, which is new in the 

 annals of horticulture. 



Mr. Prince is very willing to admit that we can 

 raise fine trees in the south — in litct, that they will 

 ''attain their utmost developemenl" — provided we 

 make use of seed produced at the north. Tliis 

 position is not more tenable than the other, that 



