10« 



SILK MAjNUAL, and 



most responsible as well as conipctejit witnesses, 

 are to the stum effect. 



3rr Editor, 1 acid to this communication a still 

 further account which I had very lately prepared 

 for the second >dition of the " Silk Grower's 

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

 cipally gone. 



THE SILKWORM AND THE MULBERRY FROM 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 

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

 country famous from antiquity for its silk, and 

 renowned for its industry; a parallel only to our 

 own, in its climates and divers latitudes. These, 

 the common JfTiite Mulberry, which is sometimes, 

 though improperly, 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 represented as possessing such decided superi- 

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

 stituted for them all in every region of the globe. 



The tree grows vigorous, upright and beautiful ; 

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

 .' and elliptical, their breadth being six inches, and 

 I their length eight ; but in rich, friable and humid 

 soils, they are large and cordiform, extraordinary 

 specimens having sometimes measured moi-e 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 cidture, by grafting, 

 by inoculating, by layers and l)y 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 time 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 Northampton, the seeds of which came from 

 China. At first sight, I concluded they were the 

 More.ttiana, or Dondolo, a new species from Pavia, 

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

 surface, but on examination I saw that they differ- 

 ed as much from this as they differ from the trive 

 kind. 



It is soiTietimes called the Morus Cidcallata — 

 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. Jt was first discover- 

 ed by liim at Manilla, the capital of the Phi'.lippine 

 islands, whither it had been brought by the Chi- 

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

 usefulness. From 3Ianilla the Morus Multicaulis 

 was first introduced by Pvl. Perrottet to the Isle of 

 Bourbon, and finally it was brought by him to 

 France in 1321, in that vast collection and variety 

 of productions, which he had during thirtyfour 

 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, and from France toGaudaloupe ; also 

 to Senegal. The numerous plants which are 

 already disseminated in the divers climates of 

 Africa, America and Europe, have all been pro- 

 duced by the two individual jtlants, which were 

 brought by M. Perrottet from Manilla. 



The Morus i^Iulticaulis 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, sofl and tender leaves s[)eedily 

 acquire, and tlie promj)titude 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 afibrded by this plant, is not 

 only of superior quality, but the cocoons are of 

 unusual size. TJie leaves, from their extraordi 

 nary dimensions, being gathered with import.-int 

 economy of labor, and of time, and from their 

 superior nutritious qualities, they are j)referred 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 tliem 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 iu the row ; asjuce suf- 

 ficient for the extension of the branches, sufficient 

 also for cultivation, and for the greater conve- 

 nience of gathering the leaves. So greatly is this 

 last operation facilitated by the flexibility of the 

 stalks, and the superior size of the leaf, that as we 

 are assured by M. Perrottet, a child is sufficient 

 for gathering the food for a large establishment 

 of silk worms. 



The Morus Multicaulis, since its introduction 

 to France, seems destined to replace every where 



