On a Peculiar Disease of Mulberry Fruit 



By J- J' Taubenhaus. 

 U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry 



Not long ago, a colored preacher nearly caused a riot among 

 his congregation by proclaiming that the worid was coming to 

 an end. When questioned by his deacons as to his reasoa, he 

 stated that the world had become so wicked that even mulberry 

 trees no longer lived a true life, and instead of producing its kind 

 went wrong and produced popcorn. "Popcawn", said the dea- 

 cons, "dat is impossible". "Come aad see", said the preacher. 

 Down they rushed through the lane to a group of mulberry trees 

 which were growing there for nearly twenty years, producing 

 mulberries regularly every year until now. With anxious looks 

 and mouths wide open, the deacons reached for the trees and 

 shouted to the preacher for real proof. "Here dey is", said the 

 preacher, extending his hand and plucking some limbs with the 

 mulberry fruit actually covered with what looked like popcorn 

 seed. "Impossible", said the deacons, "dis looks lak witchcraft". 

 "Ridiculous", said others, "dis is some trick played by dis preacher 

 to scare his flock". Discussions and heated argvunents followed 

 and they finally decided to gather a quantity of these "popcorn 

 seed" from the mulberry and bring it to the white folks who 

 lived near by. Sure enough, Mr. Jones, a white neighbor, was 

 greatly surprised to see popcom-like seed growing on mulberry 

 fruit. At first, he could hardly believe his own eyes, and with 

 his fingers, tried to pick out the seed to make sure that no joke 

 was played on him by the negroes. However, and with a sense 

 of hirnior, he exclaimed: "Preacher is right, de world am coming 

 to an end, even mulberry trees are going wrong". When the 

 seance was broken up, Mr. Jones told his next door neighbor 

 of the peculiar mulberries which the colored preacher had just 

 brought to his attention. "Why", said the neighbor, "I have a 

 climip of mulberry trees on my own farm which behave 

 exactly like that, and I am puzzled indeed to know what it is." 

 A heated argviment began in which Tom Smith, the next-door 

 neighbor, tried to convince Mr. Jones that these "popcorn seed" 

 (Fig. A) on the mulberry were a new creation of nature, a sort 

 of cross between com, milo, feterita and mulberries. Mr. Jones, 

 however, was not well satisfied with these arguments and induced 



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