609 



F A K Ivi E K >S ' ii E G i 8 T E il , 



[No. a 



taken with them, on the contrary they appeared 

 neglected, as numerous dead and broken lim^^s 

 hung about them; and that the very great success 

 he had, could only be aUribulcd to their situation 

 which was at the place where the hogs lay and 

 were fed. He told n)e that tlie hogs never let a 

 plum remain, that had lidlen, many minutes un- 

 devoured, and thereby destroyed the insects that 

 hung about, and the'larva^in them, and that of 

 late very few insects. had appeared about the 

 trees." 



We can bear testimony to the efficacy of swine in 

 fruit orchards, in destroying the curcniio, or the 

 insect that so much injures the plum and the cherry. 

 We have two cherry trees standing where pigs 

 lie, and are fed, and "though not as favorably situa- 

 ted as many others on our premises, in other re- 

 spects, they uniformly produce the finest cherries 

 grown on our trees. After the cherries begin to 

 ripen, there are lew hours in a day in which the 

 trees are not visited by the pigs, and every worm, 

 stone, and cherry, are at once disposed of. On our 

 other trees, the curculio, does much mischief annu- 

 ally, on these the fruit is nearly exempt, and is 

 decidedly larger and fairer than on those to which 

 the swine have no access. In planting plum or 

 cherry orchards, this fact should not be forgotten ; 

 and pigs should have the free range of such pre- 

 mises. 



INTRODUCTION OF THE MOUUS MULTICAULIS 

 I.ONG BKFOUE ITS DISCOVERY BY PER- 

 ROTTET. 



There have recently been published several 

 communications of the remarkable, and to most 

 persons the incredible flict, that the morus multi- 

 caulis has been growing in Craven county, North 

 Carolina, unnoticed and unknown, for about half 

 a century ; or for some thirty years earlier than 

 the importation of the tree from the Phillippine 

 Islands to France, by the botanist Perrottet— 

 which, until this late contradiction, had been ad- 

 milted generally (and in this country universally,) 

 as the earliest introduction of the plant frnm Asia. 

 The most full account of the North Carolina 

 growth is given in a cotnmunicatfon to the last 

 number of the 'Journal of the Silk Society,' by 

 George Wilson of Newbern. Mr. Wilson de- 

 scribes the plant from actual inspection, as it ap- 

 pears, and vouches for its identity with the morus 

 multicaulis; and he states, from the information 

 of others, the account of the origin, which we will 

 here condense. He reports that a Frenchman, 

 named Fonvilic, emigrated about fifty or sixty 

 years ago, and settled in Craven county. He 

 brought with him mulberry plant-; and silk-worms' 

 eggs, for the purpose of prosecuting silk-cullure, 

 but which was prevented by his death occurring 

 not long after. The mulberry trees, which he 

 planted, being no longer valued or protected, and 

 being in cultivated land, have been gradually dis- 

 appearing, from being cut and grubbed, and burnt 



over, until but one root remained, which was lately 



rescued and removed by Daniel Lewis. "Until 

 within the hist twelve moiilhs" adds Mr. Wilson, 

 "we never heard of tlic multicaulis liere, but one 

 individual, who had bought six of them, about 

 three years since, of Prince of Long Island, and 

 has nursed them up to 1500. A speculator came 

 along, and bought them up at 35 cents, and spread 

 among us the importance and the name of the tree. 

 Then it was that Lewis said that he knew where 

 some of the same trees grew, and he went, in 

 company with a man named Gooding, and pro- 

 cured those of which I have already informed 

 you." 



It is not our object at present, either to affirm or 

 deny the correctness of this recent statement. It 

 is more than probable that there has existctl .^ome 

 source of mistake, unknown both to the writer of 

 the communication and to those from whom he 

 derived his information. But whether that suppo- 

 sition be true or not, we can make manifest the pos- 

 sibility of the morus multicaulis having been 

 brought from France fifty years ago, from indubi- 

 table evidence in our possession of the fact that 

 the tree was growing in France some years still 

 earlier; and that, though preserved and propagated 

 by a few curious cultivators, merely as a rare plant, 

 it remained unnoticed by all other persons, and 

 scarcely known, until in 1834, the date of the re- 

 port on the subject which we shall give below. 

 If it should be proved that the growth referred to 

 has really been so long in North Carolina, and is 

 the true morus multicaulis, (neither of which is 

 yet established,) than this publication will serve to 

 clear up the otherwise mysterious and incompre- 

 hensible fact of the early introduction. The re- 

 port below is a translation from the original which 

 is in our possession, ani.1 may be found at page 

 350 of the 'yJnnales de V. Agriculture Francaise,' 

 for 1834. 



"Heport of 31. Janme Saint- IJilaire to the Royal 



and Central Society of Jlgricullure. 



Sitting of June Ig, 1834. 



In a journal of Lyons, which M. Huzard, the 

 father, has communicated to the society, M.Jle- 

 non. Director of the Royal Nursery of that citj', 

 announces that the morus multicaulis has been 

 cultivated for many years in Vaise, near Lyons, 

 in the nursery of M. Nerard, nursery gardener. 

 His father had received il from Rast dc Maupas, 

 before 1809, since which time he had lost, by a 

 severe winter, part of those he hatU Not having 

 deemed the multicaulis preferable lo~1iie ordina- 

 ry white mulberry for feeding silk-wo'j-ms, he cul- 

 livaied it m'M'ely as'an ornamental tree, -suitable to 

 display in masi^es, and in English thicliels. 



Al. Scringe, professor of botany at Lyons, adds, 



in support of this annunciation, a manuscript note 



of Madiot, who fi^r a long time was the director of 



I the royal nurseries. This note is in these words: 



