PRACTICAL FARMER 



101 



To the Editor of the f-ilk Manual. 



Sir — I am informed by those who have had 

 experience in the cultivation of the mulberry tree, 

 that it will not thrive on laud where the surface 

 or subsoil has a mixture of clay. Will you please 

 to state in the next number of your valuable 

 Manual, whether a calcareous soil or a soil com- 

 posed in part of lin)e, would be suitable for a 

 mulberry plantation ; or whether lime applied to 

 the land as manure, would be beneficial or injuri- 

 ous to the growth of the trees in any case. By 

 so doing you will much oblige one of your sub- 

 scribers, and perhaps, many others who are now 

 interested in the culture of the mulberry. 



Bedlmm, Oct. 30, 1835. W. G. 



By the Editor, — All the writers on the subject 

 of cultivating mulberry trees, &.c. concur in re- 

 commending a warm, sandy, dry soil, and do not 

 mention the Subject of lime, or calcareous matter 

 as connected with growing the trees. Lime, 

 however, according to Mr Edmund Ruffin, author 

 of an able " Essay on calc:ireous Manures," is un- 

 favorable to the growth of forest trees in general. 

 We«sh'ould be glad to learn the opinions of com- 

 petent judges on this subject ; but, at present, 

 would not advise the use of calcareous manure, 

 nor recommend a calcareous soil till the subject is 

 better understood. 



ON THE MORUS MUL.TICAUL,IS, OR CHINESE 

 MULBERRY. 



To the Editor of the JVoiihumpton Courier: 



Dear Sir : — My object in this communication 

 is, in part, to rectify some few errors in a state- 

 ment of your highly respected corresfwnrlent, Dr 

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

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

 going the rounds of many of the public journals 

 of the day. 



The history of this Mulberry, and the account 

 of its origin, has been often published and repub- 

 lished in this country, during the last five years, 

 and its history disseminated far and wide ; the his- 

 tory being, in a measure identified in its name and 

 the country of its origin : that country is China. 



The honor of the discovery of this plant, and 

 its introduction to Europe, to Africa, and to 

 America, is due to M. S. Perrottet, Agricultural 

 Botanist, and Traveller of the Marine and Colo- 

 nies of France. This distinguished Botanist was 

 sent out by the Government of France on a voy. 

 age of research to the seas of Asia: a national 

 ship having been provided especially 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 cim- 

 mencement of the present century," says a writer 

 of that country in his letter to Dr Pascalis, and 

 one 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- 

 caulis, 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 multijly 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 

 garden of a Chinese cultivator, that M. Perrottet 

 saw, for the first time, the Morus Multicaulis ; 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 Multicaulis, 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 jjlains near the sea 

 shore. It w'as introduced into Manilla and all the 

 Islands in the Asiatic Archipelago, from Canton, 

 where it was only 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 suflfer from the exces- 

 sive cold of the Northern, or the intense heat of 

 the intertropical regions" * * * Chinese inhabi- 

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

 disciples of Confucius indebted, for the prosperity 

 aufl solidity of their empire. 



In France, this tree is sometimes also called the 

 Perrottet Mulberry ; and M. Poiteau, one of the 

 most distinguished writers of that country, has 

 observed, that public gratitude and justice, require 

 that the naiiie 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. 

 In other publications he has also infoi-med us, 

 that, by the information received from all quar- 

 ters, this mulberry had not suffered in the 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 



