192 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



that of the nettle, but perfectly black when it 

 is ripe : the wood is fine and compact, and 

 quite white when fresh cut : but it is too light 

 and soft to be much used. The Indians make 

 baskets of the young branches. Farmers in 

 the western country prefer hack-berry wood 

 for fences, on account of its splitting very 

 easily. And now for some useful trees. 



" First let me tell you about the mulberry." 



" Oh, Uncle Philip, I know the mulberry ; 

 we have one in our garden. The berries are 

 white, and very sweet, and shaped like black- 

 berries. Father says that silk- worms feed on 

 the leaves ; and silk, we know, is very useful 

 and valuable." 



" Yes ; so valuable that the quantity con- 

 sumed every year, in the United States alone, 

 is worth a great many hundred thousand 

 dollars. But the mulberry that you have in 

 your garden is a European tree ; that is the 

 white mulberry, and the only kind that 

 grows wild in the United States is the red." 



" And will silk-worms eat the leaves of the 

 red kind too, Uncle Philip ?" 



" No, only the white ; and therefore the 

 red kind is not as valuable as the other ; but 

 still it is a quite useful tree. It is large, and 



