212 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JANrARY 15, 1R34. 



For lh& Nea England Fanner. 

 MORUS MUL.TICAUL.IS, CHINESE MULBERRY, 

 CONSIDERED AS A HARDY TREE. 



Newton, Jan. Sth, 1S34. 

 Mr. FEssENnn.v — Dear Sir, In tin.- New Eng- 

 land Fanner of the 1st of January hist, at page 1 < ) 3 , 

 I observe an article which you have republished 

 from the same valuable journal of Nov. 2, 1831, 

 vol. x, page 121. It is a statement of your highly 

 respected correspondent, Judge Buul of Albany, 

 and is as follows: "We had two plants of the 

 Chinese Mulberry in our nursery last season, one 

 budded, the other on its natural roots. They both 

 grew vigorously, and both were killed by the se- 

 verity of the winter, root and branch." A doubt 

 is thence inferred, whether this desirable plant will 

 endure the winters of northern climates, and a de- 

 sire is expressed to learn how it has fared in our 

 neighborhood. In reply to this candid statement 

 of Judge Buel, I shall endeavor to dispel any 

 doubts as to final success, which may have arisen 

 on this head, so far as is practicable at this early 

 day. | 



From my first knowledge of this new plant, I 

 regarded it as one which might prove a most 

 valuable acquisition to our country and climate, 

 throughout the greater part, if not its whole ex- 

 tent, from South to North. For in addition to the 

 fact, that the leaves appear to be preferred by the 

 insects to all others, and the great reduction of 

 labor in gathering the leaves from their extraordi- 

 nary size, the promptitude with which they are 

 renewed will enable us, by the introduction of this 

 plant, to raise two successive crops of silk in a 

 single season ; the soil, the cultivation, the habita- 

 tions for the successive generations of insects be- 

 ing yet the same — all thus converted to a double 

 use and profit. 



Considering the plants as new and highly valua- 

 ble, and till I introduced them in 1831 as yet un- 

 tried, I endeavored to multiply them by every pos- 

 sible means, leaving little or nothing to the chances 

 of winter: I forbore risking even a partial loss 

 with the yet young and tender plants of but a 

 single summer's growth. With this view a new 

 plantation, and much more extensive than that of 

 the year preceding, is annually formed, the plants 

 being set so close that by autumn the whole 

 greund shall become occupied with a luxuriant 

 growth of the young plants. 



Before winter sets in the whole ground is clear- 

 ed, and these, together with all seedling plums, 

 cherries, quinces, and white mulberries, &o, are 

 carefully and compactly placed in cellars, their 

 roots buried in soil ; or occasionally, the latter for 

 protection, are laid in out of doors compactly, and 

 in a slanting position, their bodies being in part 

 protected by soil. For all of the last named spe- 

 cies are liable either to be killed down occasional- 

 ly to the root by the first winter, or to be utterly 

 destroyed by being thrown out by the frost. Yet 

 in the second winter it is far otherwise; their roots 

 becoming strong and firmly established, the well 

 ripened wood of the second year, and the wood of 

 two years growth, becomes indestructible by any 

 but very extraordinary winters. 



The first winter I had opportunity of trying the 

 experiment, was in the most destructive winter of 

 1631-2, a winter which destroyed so many trees, 

 hitherto deemed hardy, even to the root. My 

 stock of the Morus Multicaulis being at that time 

 small, I risked only the experiment ofa single one, 

 and that a tender tree, it being only of the growth 



of the preceding summer. This I left out in a 

 deep, black', and moist soil, in a northerly and 

 most exposed situation. The young roots only, 

 were protected by a few inches of litter, whilst 

 the top which was wholly exposed, escaped the 

 destruction, except only the ends of the tender 

 twigs. Last winter, I left out a very|few of those 

 of but a single year's growth, which were partially 

 exposed. And although I have never lost a single 

 Morus Multicaulis by winter. I cannot yet from 

 my own experience alone, speak so decisively at 

 this time as I trust I shall be enabled to do at no 

 very distant day. I have left during the present 

 winter, a few plants of but a single summer's 

 growth, without any kind of protection whatever, 

 and intend another winter to make trial of them 

 on a more extensive scale. 



At the Messrs. Prince, on Long Island, we are 

 informed they sustained the rigors of this same 

 winter of 1831-2 uninjured. And Madame Far- 

 mentier has assured us that all her Morus Multi- 

 caulis had sustained the rigors of the last seven 

 winters on Long Island, uninjured anil unprotect- 

 ed. During the last summer, I saw at Capt. 

 Chandler's in Lexington, and in an exposed situa- 

 tion, young plants in a state of the most vigorous 

 vegetation, which had endured unprotected the 

 severity of the winter of 1S31-2. 



I have indeed sanguine expectations that the 

 Morus jMulticaulis may prove as hardy in our 

 northern climate as the Peach which was origin- 

 ally from Persia, and the Cherry, when once their 

 roots have become established. Its vegetation is 

 rapid and luxuriant, and prolonged to a later pe 



letter, 



some other particulars than those which are in- 

 serted in the last edition of 1833 of his valuable 

 "Manual on tbe Mulberry tree ami the culture of 

 Silk." The following are exacts from hi 

 dated Jan. -1, 183-4. 



"Dear Sir, I received yours of the 2d hist, re- 

 questing me to relate ray experience as fo the har- 

 dihood of the new species ofmvlbtrry trie, Morns 

 Mdlticavlis t I can hardly say I have ha. I a fair 

 trial of it as yet. Such is the demand for the cut- 

 tings that I have been obliged to nil mine down 

 mostly. I have left several exposed this winter in 

 order to try a further experiment. I have no 

 doubt that they will succeed in our northern cli- 

 mate, but for the first two or tone years they may 

 require protection : after that they will not need it. 

 The tips will always be lost, as win know they al- 

 ways are of the common While Mulberry, when 

 young; hut that we shall be ah|e to rear it here is 

 decided beyond a question. 



" Your respectfully, &c. J. if. Cobb." 



For the New England Farmer. 

 MILCH COWS. 

 Pittsfield, Mass. 4 th January, 1S34. 

 Dear Sir, — In your paper of the 1st instant, is an 

 article under the above bead, taken from the Amer- 

 ican Farmer, who answers the question, " what 

 breed of cattle is best for the dairy ?" by recom- 

 mending half blood Durham Shorthorns, lie may 

 be correct, for aught 1 can say; hut you may judge', 

 from the following account of three cows of JYaZive 

 American Slock, entirely free as I believe, from ad- 



riod in autumn than most other trees, or till the | n dxture with any of the foreign stocks, so much 

 tender and yet vegetating tips of the twigs are I recommended. 

 cheeked by frost. The ravages of the destructive 

 winter of 1831-2 seem to have been principally 

 confined to particular soils. The trees on the dry 

 soils of certain plains and moist low grounds, ap- 

 pear to have suffered very considerably more than 

 on the exposed hills. Even full grown and hardy 

 trees of tbe Peach, tbe Pear, and tbe Apple were, 

 in certain situations, unable to resist tbe effects of 

 a winter so uncommon and extraordinary. 



There is one particular in the statement of 

 Judge Buel, which must not escape our notice. 

 We have no reason to infer from his statement as 



I have made from these three cows between tlte 

 1st of January 1833, and tbe 1st of January in- 

 stant, 535 lbs of butter. One of the cows calved 

 in March last, another in May, ami a third in July. 

 They have been fed exclusively, on grass in sum- 

 mer, and hay in winter, with the exception of a 

 few pumpkins in the fall. My family consists of 

 ten persons, and we use cream almost profusely in 

 June and July ; during the season of the smaller 

 fruits, which I raise in great quantities, we con- 

 sume at least the cream of one cow. The great- 

 est quantity of butter made in one month, was in . 

 above quoted, that the Morus Multicaulis is not | September, when it amounted to 107 lbs. The 



equally as hardy as. the White Mulberry ; since the 

 stock and root of the common While Mulberry on 

 which the Morus Multicaulis must have been bud- 

 ded, was killed too — a stock and root of three 

 years of age, which we know to be hardy 



In the case above referred to, we must look to 

 other causes than the severity of winter — to some 

 peculiarity of situation or soil. We are justified 

 in this conclusion by a previous communication of 

 the same distinguished philanthropist, wherein he 

 has informed us ofa more extensive destruction of 

 other trees, which are deemed equally as hardy as 

 the Common White .*Iulbcrry. The following are 

 his words — "The past winter has been dreadful 

 to our Cherries, Plums and Pears. We probably 

 lost five thousand trees in our nursery alone." * * * 

 See the " Extract of a letter from Judge Buel to 

 a gentleman in this vicinity." — New England Far- 

 mer for August 7, 1829 ; Vol. VIII, No. 3, P. 23. 



From your friend and most obed't serv't, 



William Kknbick. 



N. B. Since the above was written, I have re- 

 ceived a letter in answer to one I had written, 

 from J. H. Cobb, Esq. of Dedham, containing 



cows are all of them large, one very large, perhaps 

 the largest in the county. She calved in March, 

 and upon the dry food of that season even made 

 4S 3-4 lbs butter in four weeks. My pastures in 

 summer are very fine, and I keep them so by sow- 

 ing them every spring with unleashed ashes, 15 

 bushels to the acre, which throws out a profusion 

 of white clover. The soil is dry and gravelly. The 

 extent of my pasturage is 6 acres divided into throe 

 lots, into which the cows are driven to feed alter- 

 nately, and these acres afford an abundant supply 

 until the first of September, when I let them in 

 upon the rowen of my mowing lot. Besides, I 

 have about half an acre of lucerne and tall meadow 

 oat grass, which I cut and give them in the spring 

 before they are turned into the pasture, and which, 

 for the last two years, has afforded them an abun- 

 dant supply of food for 12 days, besides allowing 

 tbe pasturage to be well grown for longer use. 

 I water them regularly three times a day from a 

 well, having no other means ; and they are care- 

 fully littered in winter. So much for CowsoJ'Na- 

 tive Anerican Stock. 



Very respectfully, E. A. N. 



