PART I. 



THE MULBERRY TREE. 



THE first step in the process of the silk manufac- 

 ture is to make provision for an abundant supply of 

 food for the worm, by whose industry the raw mate- 

 rial is produced. The only natural food for the silk 

 worm is the foliage of several species of the Mulberry; 

 and as the most valuable of them are not indigenous 

 in our forests, we must depend upon the hand of cul- 

 tivation, to acquire what nature has withholden from 

 us in the distribution of her gifts. Though nature 

 has, doubtless for good reasons, omitted to give us 

 these species of the Mulberry tree, growing sponta- 

 neously on our farms and in our forests, yet she has 

 favored us with a soil and climate admirably adapted 

 to their propagation. The first object, therefore, with 

 the culturist should be to prepare and sow a nursery of 

 plants, from which he can subsequently have a full 

 supply for standard trees, hedges, &c., as his taste 

 and judgment may direct. 



As there are several species of the Mulberry, each 

 having its varieties, and as some soils are more con- 

 genial to it than others, the culturist should select the 

 best varieties of the tree, and the soil best adapted to 

 its growth and the quality of its foliage. 

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