316 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



affected by three other diseases. Countries like ours, happily free 

 from these pests, can thus rear healthy silk-ova at a high premium 

 for exportation. 



The White Mulberry-tree, with others, offering food to the silk- 

 worms, such as the osage-orange, should be planted copiously every- 

 where for hedges or copses. A very soft textile fibre is obtained 

 from the bark of the Chinese Mulberry-tree. A variety of the 

 White Mulberry-tree (M. laevigata, Wallich) furnishes in Assam, 

 where it is called the " Bola," almost exclusively the wood for paddles 

 and oars [W. R. Fisher]. 



Morus celtidifolia, Humboldt. 



From Peru to Mexico, ascending to 8,000 feet. The fruit of this 

 Mulberry-tree is edible. Rev. Prof. Sodiro, of Quito, praises par- 

 ticularly the wood of this tree for building purposes. M. insignis 

 (Planchon), from New Granada, is a similar species ; it reaches 

 elevations of 11,000 feet, is therefore a plant fit also for the cold 

 temperate zone, and deserves thus general cultural attention. 



Morus nigra, Linne.* 



The Black Mulberry-tree. South- Western Russia and Persia. 

 Attains a height of about 60 feet. Highly valuable for its pleasant 

 refreshing fruits. It is a tree of longevity, instances being on record 

 of its having lived through several centuries ; thus a tree at Dublin 

 is about 350 years old [Professor Percival Wright]. It is also very 

 hardy, enduring the winter-cold of Norway to latitude 61 15' ; at 

 Christiania it bore fruit [Schuebeler]. Mr. John Hodgkins regards 

 it as a superior tree for sandy coast-ridges. Mr. T. Kessal also notes 

 that it will live on somewhat saline soil. It was introduced into 

 Britain already by the Romans. Best propagated by layers. The 

 leaves of this species also afford food for the ordinary silk-moth, and 

 are almost exclusively used for this purpose in the Canary-Islands, 

 although the produce therefrom is not always so good as that from 

 M. alba. The tree occurs usually as unisexual. M. atropurpurea 

 (Roxburgh), from Cochin-China, is an allied tree. The cylindrical 

 fruit-spike attains a length of 2 inches. A palatable, somewhat 

 vinous beverage can be obtained by fermentation from Mulberries. 



Morus rubra, Linne.* 



The Red Mulberry-tree. Eastern North- America, North-Mexico. 

 The largest of the genus, attaining a height of about 70 feet ; it 

 produces a strong and compact timber, of wonderful endurance 

 underground ; hence in demand for posts and railway-ties [General 

 Harrison], also for knees of small vessels [Dr. C. Mohr], and a 

 variety of other purposes. Fruit edible, sweet, large. The tree is 

 still hardy in Christiania [Schuebeler]. It requires a deep rich soil 

 and endures shade [Fernow]. Rate of circumferential stem-growth 

 in Nebraska 43 inches in eighteen years [Furuas]. 



