Voi.viii.— No. ag. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



229 



EXTRACT yo. II. 



From the Annalcs U' Horticultuie. 

 .e.poH on a new species of Mulbtrry Tree, discov- 

 ered by M. MoBETTi, Professor of .Agrarian 

 Economy in the University of Pavia ; by Dr 



FONTANEILLES. 



Gf.ntleme.n — Having beeu directerl, at your 

 St meeting, to make u report upoiiu letter, which 

 as pubhsheil in 1826, in tlio Journal of Pliysics 

 1(1 Chemistry of Pavia, and presented to the So- 

 ety hy Baron de Silvestre, I have attentively 

 tamined it, and tlie folhjwing is the most essen- 

 i\ portion of its contents. 



M. Gera, the autlior of tliis letter, informed 

 ;. Aprilis, professor of natural sciences in the 

 yceuni of Udina, that a new Mulberry tree had 

 ;en found, about twelve years since, by M. Mo- 

 etti, in the miilst of a nursery of wild white 

 iull)eriy trees, which had been formed in the 

 mkn, consecrated to the instruction of the pu- 

 is. The extraordinary size of the leaves of this 

 junij tree, attracted the attention of the professor, 

 hn immediately, perceived that they differed iu 

 rm from those of the common mulberry tree. The 

 ea that this was only a deviation of nature, did 

 3t satisfy the perspicacity of M. Moretti. He 

 ■rceived the great advantage which these leaves, 

 iveral times larger than ordinary offered, aivd 

 (imediately isolated the young tree, and jjaid par- 

 cular attention to its cultivation. The intelligence 

 ' this professor has not been at fault. A few 

 jars have been sufficient to i-Ralize his anticipa- 

 ons. Experience now j)roves that this valuable 

 ce is a new species; for, within nine or ten j 

 3arf, there have been cultivated at least one hnii- 

 red and twenty thousand plants, all resembling | 

 leir parent ; their leaves having exhibited no al-i 

 Talioii in size, or in the particular qualities rc- 

 jgnised in those of the first wdd tree. 



M. Geba has given the following description of 

 e tree. 



1st. Petiole groved, and about three inches 

 n" ; leaf ovate, sharp |)ointed, entire, cordate at 

 le base; as thin as the leaf of the common wild 

 ulbcrry ; smooth on the under and upper sur- 

 .ces, and especially the latter, which is also of a 

 eautiful, rather deep and shining green. This 

 af is not near so thick as that of the large white 



ulberrv, which is called in Fraru:e the Jldniirhblc, 

 1(1 is thinner than those of the Spanish mulberry, 

 Morus nigra L.) It has very few nerves, and is 

 either wrinkled or plaited. It is in general nearly 

 'iht inches wi<le, and about ten in length. 



2d. The male anient, (amentum veljulus) is lon- 

 jr than that of the common mulberry ; the fle- 

 ets at greater distances, and the anthers shorter 



id more obtuse. 



3d. The female anient, on the contrary, is 

 liorter, and the florets nearer together ; the pis- 



s arc more developed, varied, and firmly attach- 



1 until the i)erfect maturity of the fruit, which at 

 FSt apiiears of a violet color, and then becomes 

 lark. 



This mulberry has some resemblance to the 

 lorus rubra, h., Morus virginiensis, Pluk ; never- 



leless, it appears to flourish best in the form of a 

 cdse: besides, its leaves are more agreeable to 

 lie silk worm, and they are more profitable. The 

 nail' flowers of the two varieties above named, 

 re separated from the female ; still it is not un- 



iiiiinon, to finil them united in one receptacle, 

 i|iou the Morus virginiensis. 



The Count Dandolo has jirovcd by many ex- 

 periments,* and M. Doiseleun-Deslongchamps, 

 lias confirmed it, that the leaj of the wild nud- 

 berry produces a finer and stronger silk, than that 

 yielde<l by the silk worms, which are fed on leaves 

 from grafted trees. 



It was this fact which attracted the attention 

 of !\I. Moretti ; the new wild mulberry, said he, 

 afl'ording larger leaves, with the same qualities as 

 those of the common mulberry, the product should 

 be considerably augmented, and this has been 

 proved, by the author of the letter, which is the 

 subject of my report, by conclusive experiments, 

 made on his own estates, which I shall succinctly 

 make known to you. 



M. Gera selected the eggs of the common 

 silk worm, and when hatched, he divided them in- 

 to three equal portions; one of them he fed with 

 the leaves of the grafted nmlberry, another with 

 those of the common wild mulberry, and the 

 third with the leaves of the new mulberry. 



The better to ascertain the effect of the food 

 and consequently the difference of the products, 

 he made at the same time another experiment ; 

 he isolated a certain iiu'mberof silk worms, which 

 were fed with the leaves of the grafted niulbprry, 

 and after they had shed their second skin, he di- 

 vided them into separate lots. He continued to 

 feed the worms of one lot with the leaves o-f the 

 grafted mulberry, but gave to the others none but 

 the leaves of the new mulberry. When he had 

 collected the cocoons of all the silk woiks sidimit- 

 led to his experiments, the silk was wound from 

 each parcel and kept separate. The silk produced 

 by the worms fed entirely with the leaves of the 

 grafted mulberry, was, in weight, of the standard 

 of 26 deniers, and that made by the worms fed 

 with the leaves of the wild mulberry, as well as 

 that of those fed with the new mulberry, had 

 each the weight of twentyfour deniers,f which 

 directly jiroves the superior fineness of these two 

 over the first; and that, with the leaves of the 

 new mulberry, the same degree of fineness was 

 obtained as with those of the common wild mul- 

 berry. M. Gera has also remarkeii, that, in ge- 

 neral, the silk produced from the leaves of the 

 new mulberry, has a more beautiful glos.^, that 

 it is of a more delicate straw color, and that it is 

 stronger than common silk. 



This active and intelligent cultivator having 

 multiplied his experiments to obtain other advan- 

 tages, has. ascertained, that, when the worms have 

 been fed with a mixture of the leaves of the 

 grafted and new midberry the silk is of a better 

 quality, and that, if the eggs of the worms thus 

 fed, are liatche<l and nourished in the same man- 

 ner, the jjiodurt is still more ameliorated. These 

 experiments, which were made in 1826, were to 

 be repeated in 1827-28. I have requested M. 

 Moretti to make knowii to me the results, and I 

 shall hasten to commimicate them to the society. 



Observation has equally proved to M. Gera, 

 that the seminaries of the new mulberry contain 

 more male than female plants. He has also re- 

 marl|ed that the latter yield less fruit than the 

 common white mulberry, but that it is larger. 



In general, up to the period of the publication 



of " /' Jlrt d' clever les vers a soie," by M. Dando- 

 lo, it was the custom to distribute the leaves 

 among the worms, in the last stages, without ta- 

 king ofl" the fruit, which is then ripe, and produ- 

 ces a great quantity of moisture, which is very 

 iiijmious to these insects ; but I believe that this 

 custom has now entirely ceased. On this subject, 

 I will add, that it appears to me we should view a 

 too great abundance of fruit in another aspect, 

 not less interesting; there is not an agriculturist, 

 who does not know, that all plants re(p:ire most 

 nourishment at the epoch of their fructification ; 

 from this axiom, the just consequence has been 

 deduced, that by preventing the fructification, the 

 plant will have more, and continue a longer time 

 in vigor. Ex[)erience has proved this, especially 

 in exotic plants, such as oranges and lemons, 

 which have been despoiled of their blossoms. 

 Should we not do the same with the mulberries ? 

 If this operation shoidd be favorable to the con- 

 servation of these valuable trees, the system of 

 lopping or iiruning, after the leaves have been 

 gathered, which is generally adopted in Upper 

 It ily, and in the east of France, might be dis- 

 liensed with. It may certainly be objected, that 

 the expense would be too great ; to this I reply 

 that at the period ot the year when this operation 

 should be perfi>rmed, the laborers have but little 

 to do in the field, and besides, the cost would be 

 balanced by the supjiression of the practice of 

 pruning. 



On presenting to the society the letter, which 

 has been the subject of my report, M. le Karon 

 de Silvestre, <!istributed some of the seed of 

 the new mulberry, which he had received from 

 Professor Moretti, at the time he visited Paris. 

 This philosopher also presented soine to me, 

 which 1 offer to the members of the Society who 

 are desirous of making an experiment. We should 

 encourage in France the cultivation of this new 

 tree ; for if it answers our expectation, the pro- 

 duct of silk will be considerably augmented. 



I jiroposc that the thanks of the Society be 

 tendered to M. Moretti for the favor he has 

 conferred upon it, as well as on the agriculture and 

 industry of France. Fontaneilles, D. M. 



• See r Art d' elever les vers a soie (The Art of raising 

 silk worms) by Count Dandolo, which has been trans- 

 lated by FONTANEILLES. 



t It appear" that the vvoid denier expresses the weifihl 

 of the 'ilk, whos > dejrce of fineness is ba ed upon the de- 

 gree of coinpaiative levity. 



From Silliman's Journal of Science and Arts. 



Origin of Coal. — A man in Monongalia coun- 

 ty, Va. in digging a well, [lenetrated a layer of 

 bituminous coal at the depth of 34 feet, and about 

 five feet lower came to another stratum of coal. 

 Between these strata he found a ])iece of wood 

 perfectly sound, except its being a little charred. 

 It is inferred from this that wood buried in the 

 earth is the origin ofcoal beds. 



Much of the land in the Ohio and Mississippi 

 valley is "made land," to the dejitli of 40 feet or 

 more. A man in Warren county, Ohio, found a 

 pine tree 15 inches in diameter, in a perfectly 

 sound state, forty feet below the surface. It was 

 on high table land, 20 miles from the Ohio river. 



Foundling Hospitals. — In Catholic countries, 

 numerous asylums have been open for new born 

 children, which are abandoned by their parents. 

 Protestant countries, on tlie contrary, have sup- 

 pressed the greater jiart of these institutions. The 

 consequence is, that illegitimate anrl abandoned 

 children are far more n m ro i> in Catholic th lu 

 in Protestantcounlries. Abo ^i one third of all 

 the births in Paris are illegitimate and more than 

 5000 children are annually abandoned by their 

 parents and supported in Foundling Hospitals at 



