1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



481 



soils, and in warm and protected situations, is not 

 only unusually rapid, but is also prolonged to a 

 very late period in autumn, or until suddenly ar- 

 rested by frost; and the immature wood of a 

 forced growth being tender, is the more liable to 

 be killed by early hosts and by winter. 



On the other hand, those treesand plants which 

 grow on dry and stony or sandy soils, and on the 

 open plains, and on the hills which are most of all 

 exposed to cold winds, the wood completely ma- 

 tures in due season; and such trees are (bund to 

 suffer least of ali from early and destructive frosts, 

 and from winter. 



Delicate trees and plants, the natives of south- 

 ern climes, become more hardy, and more capable 

 of supporting the northern winters, by being 

 planted on the north sides of buildings and in 

 their shade. Their growth being thus modified, 

 the exposure to the most intense degree of cold, 

 in such situations, is more than compensated by 

 the protection which is thus afforded to the plants 

 during winter, from the pernicious, and far more 

 destructive rays of the sun. 



More delicate shrubs or plants, may be protect- 

 ed by being surrounded by a thin covering of 

 straw. They may also be protected by a few inch- 

 es of litter placed around their trunks, and over 

 their roots. Moss from the meadows, or ever- 

 green boughs, being more incorruptible, are to be 

 preferred for delicate plants. For it has been 

 lately announced, as an important fact, that the 

 destruction of delicate plants which is sometimes 

 occasioned by winter, is caused by the alternate 

 freezing and thawing of the earth at its surface — 

 that death commences at the surface, which this 

 protection will prevent. 



The finest fruits of the tropics, when cultivated 

 in countries remote from the equator, lose their good 

 quality and sweetness. In the climate of Eng- 

 land, we are assured lrom undisputed testimony, 

 that the finest peaches of America prove u ioorth- 

 less." Even those which, confessedly, travellers 

 with us, so much admire, with but two excep- 

 tions, prove good for nothing in their hostile cli- 

 mate, not coming to their full maturity and excel- 

 lence, even on the walls to which their cultivation 

 is confined. Fifty American kinds were contain- 

 ed in their garden, at Chiswick, at the time their 

 account was written. [See Pom. Mag. No. 54. 

 Also, Cat. Lon. Hor. Soc. for 1826.] 



The pavies [cling-stone peaches] particularly, 

 are there denounced, generally; while in warm 

 countries they are preferred to all others. 



Some of the finest apples of America, and of 

 Italy, seem also in that country to have shared a 

 like disastrous fate — and the Pomone Finale, or 

 Mela Curia, which in the climate of Italy, is re- 

 puted to be. the finest apple in the world, proves 

 in open culture, in England, but an ordinary fruit, 

 as their writers assure us. 



The reverse of this is also true, and many 

 fruits of the north will be found to depreciate, 

 when cultivated in a warmer latitude. And the 

 While Moscow or Astracan, which by the cele- 

 brated M. Christ, is described as a fruit so very 

 extraordinary il in a suitable situation and climate, 

 which is not under 49° of polar elevation.' 1 '' This 

 fruit is pronounced but at mediocrity at Paris, and 

 with us proves an indifferent fruit. And many of 

 the fruits, the natives of England, and of other 

 northern countries, and of high reputation there, 



Vol. Ill— 61 



have proved but ordinary when brought down to 

 our own latitudes, and compared with our own 

 fruits, and those of climates equally iavored with 

 us. 



The cherry tree, the pear, the apple, and many 

 other kinds, when carried within the tropics, be- 

 come unproductive or barren, or the fruit worth- 

 less. 



The olive and the vine may indeed grow within 

 the tropics; but we are assured they produce little 

 or no fruit, except in the mountainous eleva- 

 tions. 



The cereal varieties of grain, the annual plants 

 and productions, those most necessary to the sub- 

 sistence of man, have by him been acclimated 

 from the borders in the tropics, to very high north- 

 ern latitudes. 



Man himself has become habituated to all cli- 

 mates. The horse, the most noble of animals, 

 and the ox, the most useful, seem, under the 

 guardianship of man, in some measure, alike con- 

 stituted. The horse and his rider traverse the 

 earth, from the burning deserts of Sahara, to the 

 frozen regions of Siberia, and the boundaries of 

 the Arctic circle. 



Extracted from Kenrick's New American Orcliardist, (2d edit. 

 1835.) 



ACCOUNT OF THE CHINESE MULBERRY TREE 



( Morus Multicaulis.) 



[We have at various times laid before our readers 

 detached notices, of the properties and value of the 

 Chinese mulberry, the culture of which, in connexion 

 with raising silkworms, we are persuaded will hereaf- 

 ter be very important to a large portion of Virginia, 

 and other southern states. Some of the most recent 

 European discoveries we have been enabled first to 

 offer (though translations) to the American public — 

 and one of these new facts, (which is referred to in 

 the following extract,) is all important to those who 

 design to raise the new mulberry, viz. that this kind 

 cannot be propagated by seeds, so as to preserve its 

 peculiar character and value. The following extract 

 from the recently published second edition of Mr. Ken- 

 rick's Orchardist, brings together much of what is 

 known on this interesting subject.] 



Of all the varieties of mulberries for silk, the 

 Chinese mulberry or Morus Multicaulis, appears 

 that which is most eminently entitled to prefer- 

 ence. It originated in the elevated regions of 

 China, a country famous from antiquity for its silk, 

 and renowned for its industry; a parallel to our 

 own in its climates and divers latitudes. It is to 

 this tree, that the disciples of Confucius, acknow- 

 ledge their indebtedness lor the prosperity and so- 

 lidify of their empire. 



The Morus Multicaulis, or Chinese mulberry, 

 since its introduction to France, seems destined to 

 replace, every where, the common wdiite mulber- 

 ry, for the nourishment of silkworms, such is its 

 decided superiority over all others. The tree is 

 beautiful, and of a rapid growth. The leaves in 

 a dry and arid soil are of less size, and elliptical, 

 their breadth being six inches and their length 

 eio-ht; but in a light, friable, rich, and humid soil, 

 they are large and cordate; extraordinary 6peci- 



