284 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



discrepancies in calculations of this kind are explained by differ- 

 ences in clime, soil, attention, treatment and also rate of labour. 



A very palatable fruit is obtained from a variety cultivated in 

 Beloochistan and Afghanistan. The white-fruited tree was 

 found apparently wild by Dr. A. v. Hegel, at Taschkend and 

 Tutkaul ; the stems there were 7 feet thick. 



The results of Mr. Brady's experience on the varieties of Morus 

 alba are as follows : In the normal form the fruits are white with a 

 purplish tinge more or less deep ; the bark is pale ; the leaf is also 

 of a pale hue, not very early, nor very tender, nor very abundant. 

 It may be grown on moist ground, so long as such is drained, or it 

 will live even on poor, loose, gravelly soil, bordering on running 

 water. The Cevennes-variety is a free grower, affords a large 

 quantity of leaves, though of rather thick consistence ; all varieties 

 of the Morus-Bombyx like these leaves, whether young or old ; it 

 is also called the Rose-leaved variety ; the silk, which it yields, is 

 substantial in quantity and also good in quality ; does best on rich 

 dry slopes. The bushy Indian variety has a fine leaf of a beautiful 

 green, which, though light in weight, is abundantly produced ; 

 it can be cut back to the stem three or four times a year ; the 

 leaves are flat, long and pointed, possess a fine aroma, and are 

 relished by every variety of the ordinary silk-insect, though all do 

 not thrive equally well on it ; the silk derived from this variety is 

 excellent, but not always so heavy in quantity as that produced 

 from the rosy variety; it prefers rich, low-lying bottoms, is a 

 greedy feeder, but may thus be made to cover an extraordinary 

 breadth of alluvial or manured land in a marvellously short space 

 of time. At Sydney Mr. Brady can provide leaves from this Indian 

 variety all through the year by the removal of cuttings, which will 

 strike their roots almost at any season ; it also ripens seeds readily, 

 and should be kept at bush-size ; it requires naturally less space 

 than the other kinds. A fourth variety comes from North-China ; 

 it has heart-shaped, flat, thickish leaves, which form very good 

 food for the silkworm. Mr. Brady, as well as Mr. Martelli, recom- 

 mend very particularly the variety passing under the name of 

 Moras multicaulis for the worms in their earliest stages. The 

 former recommends the Cape-variety also ; the latter wishes like- 

 wise the variety called Morus Morettiana to be used on account of 

 its succulent nutritious foliage, so well adapted for the insect, 

 while yet very young, and also on account of producing the largest 

 amount of food within the shortest time. This Manilla-variety, 

 above mentioned as Morus multicaulis, comes into bearing several 

 weeks earlier than most other sorts, and should therefore be at 

 hand for early hatched worms. An excellent phytological exposi- 

 tion of the numerous varieties of the White Mulberry-tree is given 

 in De Candolle's prodromus vvn. 238-245 (1873), by Bureau. 



The Muscardine-disease is produced by Botrytis Bassiana, while 

 the still more terrible Pebrine-disease is caused by a minute 

 psorospermous organism. On the Pebrine Pasteur's researches 



