1364 



ARBORETUM AND PRUTICETUM. 

 1228 



PART III, 



but slightly acid. It did not appear half ripe when we received it ; and it 

 decayed without coming to maturity. We have since, at different times, re- 

 ceived two other fruits, also from Dr. Mease ; but perceived no difference 

 between them and the one figured above. The seeds in the fruit last re- 

 ceived appearing full, we distributed them ; and young plants have been raised 

 from them by M. Vilmorin of Paris ; Mr. Gordon of the London Horticul- 

 tural Society's arboretum ; Mr. Campbell of the Botanic Garden, Manches- 

 ter; and others. Mr. R. Buist, in the American Gardener's Magazine, vol. ii. 

 p. 77., states that there are four trees in Mrs. M'Mahon's Nursery, Phila- 

 delphia, which were among the first introduced into that part of America. They 

 are planted two and two, each pair being about 400 ft. apart. In 1831, it was dis- 

 covered that one of these trees produced larger fruit than the others, and that 

 this fruit contained perfect seeds. Two of the other trees produced smaller fruit, 

 but the seeds they contained were abortive; while one of the trees was entirely 

 barren. The next year, it was discovered that the barren tree was the male plant; 

 and that the tree which produced perfect seeds was the fertile plant, which 

 stood by its side. The wood is of a bright yellow colour, uncommonly fine- 

 grained, and elastic; and, on account of the latter property, it is used by all the 

 southern tribes of American Indians for bows. It is said to be extremely 

 durable, and capable of receiving the finest polish. It resembles the wood of 

 the Maclura tinctoria, or fustick tree (a stove plant, a native of the West In- 

 dies), in affording a yellow dye. The tree is said by the Americans to be very 

 ornamental, not only from its general form, its shining foliage, and its golden 

 orange-like fruit, but on account of its retaining its leaves longer than any 

 other deciduous tree. The branches being thorny, it has been proposed by 

 some to employ it as a hedge plant, and by others as a stock to the mulberry; 

 and it has been suggested that it might prove a valuable substitute for, or 

 auxiliary to, the M. a. multicauiis, as food for the silkworm. A memorial to 

 the latter effect, it is said, has lately been presented to the French Institute. 

 (See Amer. Gard. Mag. y vol. i. p. 400.) M. Bonafous, visiting the Botanic 

 Garden at Montpelier, in 1835, and observing the luxuriance with which the 

 maclura grew there, had a number of the leaves gathered, and tried to feed 

 silkworms with them, in the same way as is done with those of the mulberry. 

 He gave the leaves of the maclura to 18 silkworms, as their only food, and 

 they produced very beautiful cocoons ; but it is not stated how these cocoons 

 turned out when they were reeled. A second experiment was made in 1836, 

 by M. Raffeneau De Lile, director of the Montpelier Garden, by giving 50 

 silkworms the leaves of the maclura only during the latter part of their ex- 

 istence. The worms were not fed on the maclura till the 19th of May, when 

 they cast their second skins. These worms never seemed to eat the leaves 

 greedily ; but they increased in size as much as those that were fed on the 



