352 



WHITE MULBERRY 



BLACK MULBERRY 



other tree has been so much discussed in lit- 

 erature. Cultivation for centuries in widely 

 different soils and climates and for special 

 characters has produced many strains of the 

 white mulberry, some of which have been 

 raised to the rank of species. 



Most important of these outlying forms of 

 the white mulberry is M. multicaulis, Perr, 

 from China, where it is the chief silkworm 

 mulberry. This tree was introduced into the 

 United States in 1826 as food for silkworms; 

 the silk industry was started earlier by private 

 individuals and then fostered by state and 

 national legislation. Its introduction brought 

 on the "Multicaulis Craze," the most dramatic 

 and the most disastrous agricultural episode 

 North America has known. (For a full ac- 

 count of the "Multicaulis Craze" and of mul- 

 berries in general, see Bailey's Evolution of 

 our Native Fruits, Chapter II.) But of the 

 millions of trees of the Multicaulis mulberries 

 then planted, scarcely a plant now remains in 

 the North, the trees having proved tender to 

 cold, and but few are to be found in the 

 South. 



According to Bailey, but one variety of the 

 Multicaulis mulberry was introduced for its 

 fruit, the Downing, from seeds sown by 

 Charles Downing, Newburgh, New York, 

 about 1846. While popular at first, the Down- 

 ing proved to be but half-hardy and soon 

 disappeared in the North. It is still grown 

 somewhat in the South for its fruits and as a 

 stock upon which to graft other mulberries. 

 Nurserymen in the North offer a Downing 

 mulberry, but this is not the original variety, 

 Bailey tells us, but a supplanter belonging to 

 M. alba. By whom and when the transfer 

 was made does not appear. 



The variety now sold as Downing, accord- 

 ing to Bailey, is the New American introduced 

 about 1854 by N. H. Lindley, Bridgeport, 

 Connecticut, probably a seedling of one of the 

 mulberries introduced in the attempt to start 

 the silk industry. Trowbridge and Thorburn 

 are very similar, both of them varieties of a 

 generation ago, but not now found in the trade 

 catalogs. All three are forms of M. alba. 

 Besides these horticultural varieties of M. 

 alba, we have in America a botanical variety 

 of this species, var. tatarica, Loud., the Rus- 

 sian mulberry, a hardy type introduced in 

 America by the Russian Mennonites in 1875-77, 

 of which Bailey records two varieties, Ramsey 

 White and Victoria. The varieties of the 

 white mulberry are all unimportant and little 

 known; nor is there much promise in the 

 species as a fruit-producing plant, the fruits 

 being too sweet, insipid, and dry as compared 

 with those of other species. European writers, 

 however, state that the white mulberry is one 

 of the mainstays of existence in Turkestan 

 and neighboring countries, where the product 

 is said to be used fresh, dried, dried and 

 ground into meal, for fattening hogs, and for 

 poultry. Possibly, however, these varieties of 

 Turkestan are forms of M. nigra, next to be 

 discussed. 



2. Morus nigra, Linn. Fig. 318. Blaok Mulberry. 

 Tree taller and stouter than that of M. alba; branches 

 numerous, slender, spreading, forming a large round 

 head ; bark slightly fissured, with many dark scales. 

 Leaves thin, firm, short, taper-pointed, rounded or 



318. Black Mulberry. 



heart-shaped at the base, sharply toothed, usually not 

 lobed, dark green and rough above, paler with promi- 

 nent veins beneath. Flowers very similar to those of 

 M. alba. Fruit comparatively large, oblong, black 

 when fully ripe, with dark red juice. 



The black mulberry is supposed to have 

 come from Persia and adjacent countries, but 

 has long been known in Europe, and is now 

 naturalized in the milder climates of that 

 continent. The species is rather widely culti- 

 vated in the Old World for its fruits, and 

 there are several named varieties. It was 

 early introduced in America, and has escaped 

 from cultivation in many parts of the South 

 and California. North of the Potomac, it can 

 be grown only in sheltered situations, as it is 

 scarcely so hardy as the peach. The fruit is 

 larger and juicier than that of the other 

 mulberries and not so sweet and insipid. The 

 tree is well worth cultivating as a fruit-plant, 

 and has been singularly neglected in the re- 

 gions in which it thrives, but one variety, the 

 Black Persian, being listed in the fruit-books. 

 All who know the fruit of this species in 

 Europe and Asia speak of it as most whole- 

 some and palatable as a dessert fruit, for 

 culinary purposes, and for the making of 

 cooling beverages. This and the other mul- 

 berries, so far, have few insect and fungus 

 troubles in America, but the birds take enor- 

 mous toll, and might make profitable cultiva- 

 tion difficult. 



3. Morns rubra, Linn. Fig. 319. Red Mulberry. 

 Native Mulberry. Virginia Mulberry. Tree attaining 

 a height, of 40-80 feet, and a diameter of 3-5 feet, being 

 the largest of the mulberries ; trunk stout and short ; 

 branches stout, spreading, comparatively few, forming 

 a round-headed top ; bark fissured into long plates, 

 dark reddish-brown. Leaves thin or membranous, large, 

 various in shape, singly or doubly toothed, those on 



