NEW ENGL. AND FARMER, 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUULISIIED BY GEORGE C. KAK.RETT, NO. 52 NOKTII MARKET STKEET, (Agriculturai, Wakkhousk.) — T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 4, 1835. 



No. 17. 



To the Editor of the .yorthampton Courier: 



Dear Sir : — My object in this cominuniralioii 

 s, ill part, to rectify some few errors in a state- 

 ment of your higlily respected corresponHenf, Dr 

 3., which was inserted in your valuable and inter- 

 ting journal for Sept. 30, ult. and which is now 

 Toiug tlic rounds of many of the public journals 

 a{ the day. 



The history of this Mulberry, and the account 

 f its orii;in, has been often published and repub- 

 isheil in this country, during the last five years, 

 :ind its history disseminated far and wide ; the his- 

 ory beiug, in a measm-e identified in its name and 

 he country of its origin : that country is China. 

 The honor of the discovery of this plant, and 

 ts introduction to Eiu'ope, to Africa, and to 

 ■Vnierica, is due to I\I. S. Perrottet, Agricultural 

 Botanist, and Traveller of the Marine and Colo- 

 nies of France. 'J'bis distinguished Botanist was 

 sent out by the Governnjeut of France on a voy- 

 ge of research to the seas of Asia : a national 

 ship having been provided esj ecially for his use. 

 After an absence of about three years, and in 1822, 

 he returned to France, bringing with him a vast 

 collection of living plants, &c. "From the com- 

 mencement of the present century," says a writer 

 of that comitry in his letter to Dr Pascalis, and 

 ne who saw all, " there had never before been so 

 vast an importation ; one so extensive in number, 

 for rare genera, and families or their seeds. • * * 

 In this immense collection was the Morus Multi- 

 caxdis, thus called by Perrottet, for the first time 

 ascertained to be the real Chinese Mulberry, of 

 which every silk grower and culturist should en- 

 deavor to multiply the species. It has been depos- 

 ited in the Royal Garden." * * * * 



It was in descending the river which traverses 

 the city of Manilla, and on its banks, and in the 

 Igarden of a Chinese cultivator, that M. Perrottet 

 eaw, for the first time, the Morus JIulticaulis ; it 

 was there that he first found it, growing along 

 with a vast variety of other precious plants, which 

 had there been congregated from India, from Cey- 

 lon, from Sumatra, and from China. 



The Morus IMulticaulis, appears from the state- 

 ments of M. Perrottet, to have originated " in the 

 elevated regions of China, from whence it has 

 been disseminated over all the jilains near the sea 

 shore. It was introduced into Manilla and all the 

 Islands in the Asiatic Archipelago, from Canton, 

 where it was oidy used for ornamenting gardens. 

 The Chinese are entitled to the credit of this in- 

 troduction, who, in emigrating from their country, 

 have, from motives of industry, endeavored to 

 multiply it, that they might render it useful to 

 them in the new country of their adoption. 



Again he says, "this species will be readily ac- 

 climated in Europe, because it originated from an 

 analogous region, as to climate, to that which we 

 inhabit. It appears not to suffer from the exces- 

 sive cold of the Northern, or the intense heat of 

 the intertropical legions" * * '* Chinese inhabi- 



tants assured M. Perrottet, that to this tree are the 

 disciples of Confucius indebted, for the prosperity 

 and SI liility of their empire. 



In France, this tree is sometimes al.so called the 

 Pirrottit Mnlhernj ; and M. Poiteau, one of the 

 most distinguished writers of that country, has 

 observed, that public gratitude and justice, require 

 that the name of the zealous traveller should be 

 affix :d to the precious plant which has given him 

 celebrity, and which he has given to Europe, to 

 Africa, and to America, and which will contribute 

 so much to the prosperity of French industry, 

 hi other publications he has also informed us, 

 tlia., by the information received from all quar- 

 ters, this mulberry had not suffered in tlie least in 

 any part of France, during the most severe of their 

 winters. Letters also of a late date, which I have 

 received from M. Eyries of Havre, and also from 

 the Chevalier Bodin of Paris, both of them the 

 most responsible as well as competent witnesses, 

 are to the same effect. 



Mr Editor, ! add to this communication a still 

 further account which I had very lately prepared 

 for the second edition of the "Silk Grower's 

 Guide" ; the first edition of Sept. ult. being prin- 

 cipally gone. 



THE SILKWORM AMD THE MnLBERRY KROM CHINA. 



wherever the Mulberry finds a congenial cli- 

 mate and soil, there also the silk worm will flour- 

 ish ; such a climate and soil, and such a country 

 is ours, throughout its whole extent, from its east- 

 ern to its western shores. 



The silk worms, and the plants whereon they 

 inost delight to feed, are the natives of China: a 

 country famous from antiquity for its silk, and 

 renowned for its industry ; a jiarallel only to our 

 own, in its climates and divers latitudes. These, 

 the common fVhite Mulberry, which is sonietmies, 

 though inijiroperly, called the Italian, and the 

 Morus Multicaulis, all being alike the natives of 

 the same country. 



The Morus Multicaulis is also called, by way of 

 excellence, the Chinese Mulberry ; a tree of sur- 

 passing beauty ; a new and most valuable variety 

 for the nourishment of silk worms ; a tree which 

 is represen'.ed as possessing such decided superi- 

 ority over all others, that it will speedily be sub- 

 stituted for them all in every region of the g'obe. 



The tree grows vigorous, upright and beautiful; 

 the leaves, in a dry and arid soil, are of less size 

 antl elliptical, their breadth being six inches, aiid 

 their length eight ; but in rich, friable and humid 

 soils, they are large and cordiform, extraordinary 

 specimens having sometimes measured more than 

 a foot in breadth, and fifteen inches in length ; 

 they are invariably curled or convex on their 

 upper surface, of a deep and beautiful shining 

 green. A plant of the easiest culture, by grafting, 

 by inoculating, by layers and by cutting, but we 

 are assured by no other mode, as has been proved 

 in France, in Lombardy, and in Venice, where the 

 seeds sown have produced varieties, but none like 

 the true kind. By the modes above-named only, 



and by these exclusively, as we are equally assured, 

 have the Chinese reared this tree from timo im- 

 memorial ; this being a variety. 



By these characteristics, is the true Morus Mul- 

 ticaulis distinguished, not only from the Dandolo 

 mulberry, but also from another variety, which 

 has been mistaken for this, and which I saw grow- 

 ing at Nortli.uripton,the seeds of which came from 

 China. \l first sight, I concluded they were the 

 Morettinna, or Dnndolo, a new species from Paviii, 

 which, like these, has a large leaf, with a plain 

 surface, but on examination I saw tliat they differ- 

 ed as much from this as they differ from the trive 

 kind. 



It is sometimes called the Morus Cuknllata — 

 also the Perrottet mulberry, so called from M. Per- 

 rottet, agricultural botanist and traveller of the 

 Marine and Colonies of France, who has intro- 

 duced this plant to Europe. It was first discover- 

 ed by him at Manilla, the capital of the Philippine 

 islands, whither it had been brought by the Chi- 

 nese, as a tree of ornament, as well as of eminent 

 usefulness. From Manilla the Morus Multicaulis 

 was first introdnc -d by M. Perrottet to the Isle of 

 Bourbon, and finally it was brought by him to 

 France in 1821, in that vast collection and variety 

 of productions, which he had durini* thirtyfci!r 

 months procured in the seas of Asia, or gathered 

 on the coast, or in the lands of Guiana. 



At a later period, it was sent from Cayenne to 

 Martinique, anrl from France toGaudaloupe ; also 

 to Senegal. The numerous )>Iants which are 

 a'ready disseminated in the divers climates of 

 Africa, America and Europe, have all been pro- 

 duced by the two individual plants, which were 

 brought by M. Perrottet from Manilla. 



The 'dorus Multicaulis differs from all others, 

 in the uncommon vigor of its growth, and the fa- 

 cility with which it is propagated from layers, or 

 even from cuttings; also, from the remarkable 

 size which the thin, soft and tender leaves speedily 

 acquire, and the promptitude with which they are 

 renewed. The fruit, which was unknown even 

 in France till 1830, is long, black, and of appear- 

 ance sufficiently beautiful; its flavor good, being 

 intermediate between that of the red and that of 

 the black mulberry. The silk which the worms 

 form, from the food afforded by this plant, is not 

 only of superior quality, but the cocoons are of 

 unusual size. The leaves, from their extraordi 

 nary dimensions, being gathered with importint 

 economy of labor, and of time, and from their 

 superior nutritious qualities, they are preferix'd by 

 the insects to all others. 



This mulberry should be cultivated in hedge 

 rows, and never suffered to rise higher than 7 or 

 8 feet. But a few years are sufficient to raise 

 considerable fields of them in full vigor, sufficient 

 to support an immense number of silk worms ; 

 and regular plantations can be formed, by planting 

 the trees at the distance of from six to eight feet 

 asunder; or in rows ten feet asunder, and the 

 trees of five feet distance in the row ; a space suf- 

 ficient for the extension of the branches, sufficient 



