MULBERRY TREE. 



MULLEIN. 



2. The white mulberry (M. alba) is extensive- 

 ly cultivated in many countries for its leaves, 

 which form the chief food of silkworms. 



The mulberry tree may be propagated by 

 layers, cuttings, or grafting. The principal 

 use of the fruit of the black mulberry is for 

 the dessert ; but from its cooling and laxative 

 properties, its juice, diluted with water, is some- 

 times used as a beverage in fevers. It is also 

 employed in the form of syrup for medicinal 

 purposes, chiefly to colour other fluid medi- 

 cines. The juice is also used to give a dark 

 tinge to liquors and confections. When pro- 

 perly fermented and prepared, the fruit yields 

 a pleasant vinous liquor, known under the 

 name of mulberry wine. In the cider counties 

 they are sometimes mixed with apples, to form 

 a beverage known as mulberry cider. The 

 bark of the root has an acrid bitter taste, and 

 is a powerful cathartic ; hence it has been suc- 

 cessfully used as a vermifuge, in doses of a 

 scruple, in powder. The wood of the tree is 

 yellow, tolerably hard, and maybe applied to a 

 variety of uses in turning and carving. It is, 

 however, necessary to steep it in water before 

 it is worked, in order to remove the tough and 

 fibrous bark, which is capable of being con- 

 verted into strong cordage, ropes, and brown 

 paper. 



Linnaeus has enumerated seven species of 

 the mulberry known in his day, all which are 

 employed to feed .silkworms, except the Tiiu- 

 toria and Indica, of which the first named fur- 

 nishes the well-known dyeing substance called 

 fustic. 



The species of mulberry found growing wild 

 in the United States, is the Morus rubra of 

 botanists, the berries being of a round and 

 oblong form, and red, or dark purple, the pulp 

 enveloping numerous small seeds. When per- 

 fectly ripe they are pleasant and wholesome. 



The varieties of mulberry employed in Eu- 

 rope for feeding the silkworm form a long list. 

 They have usually been multiplied by engraft- 

 ing the finer kinds on the stalks of the com- 

 mon white Italian mulberry. Hence, the fine, 

 large, and firm-leaved kind called the Rose of 

 Provence, Rose of Lombardy, &c. The exer- 

 tions made to improve the tree and increase 

 the size of the leaf by repeatedly sowing the 

 seed of the best kinds, has resulted in the 

 greatest success, and now the Moretta, Elata, 

 and other varieties, are obtained from seed, 

 with leaves sufficiently large to render grafting 

 unnecessary. 



Besides these long-known varieties of mulber- 

 ry used for feeding silkworms, comparatively 

 few of which have been employed in the United 

 States, there are two others, namely, the Multi- 

 caulis and the Chinese, which have been very 

 greatly multiplied, especially the former. The 

 Chinese is usually produced from seeds im- 

 ported from Canton. Its growth is exceedingly 

 vigorous, and its leaves heart-shaped, flat, and 

 very large. The Multicaulis is always propa- 

 gated from cuttings or layers, and is more hardy 

 than the Chinese, wilh larger leaves, which are 

 always hollow and uneven. Even where the 

 severe winter frosts of the Northern States 

 cause the Multicaulis to be cut down, the suck- 



ers spring up from the old roots so as to 

 afford in good season an abundance of foliage. 

 Of late years, a hybrid variety of mulberry has 

 been produced in France by shaking the pollen, 

 of the Moretta flowers over the flowers of the 

 Multicaulis. The seed of the Multicaulis pro- 

 duced by this mixture, produces a hybrid va- 

 riety with more valuable qualities than the 

 parent, and nearly as great a capacity for pro- 

 pagation by layers and cuttings. The hybrid 

 Multicaulis has large flat leaves, like those of 

 the Chinese or Canton seedlings. They are 

 firm, and much relished by the worms. They 

 endure frost equally well with the white mul- 

 berry, and are exceedingly well adapted to 

 the silk-culture, both from their great pre- 

 cocity of growth, hardiness, and valuable qua- 

 lities for feeding the worm and making good 

 silk. 



MULE. This is the well-known offspring 

 of the ass and the mare, or of the she-ass and 

 the horse. In the latter case, the produce is 

 called a jennet, and is much less hardy, and 

 therefore rarely bred. The term mule is gene- 

 rally applied in the animal creation in the same 

 sense with hybrid in the vegetable world, sig- 

 nifying the intermixture of two distinct species. 

 Mules are very hardy animals, and therefore 

 much used in warm climates, where they are 

 preferred to horses, either for the purposes of 

 draught or carriage. Considerable numbers 

 are likewise employed in Ireland, and in some 

 of the northern counties of Britain, on account 

 of their great strength and durability. No 

 animal is more sure-footed or more hardy; but 

 the pace of the mule is disagreeable to those 

 unaccustomed to its action. The diseases to 

 which the mule is liable are few. He attains 

 double the age of the horse, and is much more 

 easily maintained. The mules of the south 

 of Europe are frequently very fine animals, 

 16 or 17 hands in height, active, handsome, and 

 peculiarly patient of labour ; but very inferior 

 in beauty to the horse, particularly about the 

 head and tail. The importation of Spanish 

 asses into England has tended greatly to im- 

 prove its mules, many of which, when bred 

 with care, are sufficiently thick-set and heavy 

 for all those purposes in which our largest 

 draught-horses are employed. 



To have large and handsome mules, the 

 mare should be of a large breed, well propor- 

 tioned, with rather small limbs, a moderate- 

 sized head, and a good forehead ; and the ass 

 should be of the large Spanish breed. 



MULLEIN (Verbascum; said to be from bar- 

 bascum, bearded, in allusion to the bearded fila- 

 ments). The English species of Verbasaim are 

 strong, robust-growing plants, producing an 

 abundance of showy yellow flowers, and on 

 that account they are well adnpted for plant- 

 ing in the garden at the back of flower borders, 

 or in shrubberies. They grow freely in any 

 soil, and are readily increased by seeds ; some 

 of the perennial kinds by divisions of the root. 

 (Paxton's Pot. Dirt.) There are as many as 6 

 wild species common t<f Britain, viz., great 

 mullein, or high taper (V. thapsits); white mel- 

 lein (V.lychnitis"); yellow hoary, or Norfolk 

 mullein ( V. puherulentum} ; dark or black 



