ON MULBERRY TREES AND SILK. 55 



mulberry trees, raised from seed, and now consisting 

 of about five thousand trees, of the white mulberry. 

 Five hundred are five years old ; two thousand are 

 three years, and two thousand are two years ; those 

 of five years, are from three to six feet high ; those 

 of three years, are from two to four feet ; and those 

 of two, are from two to three feet in height. About 

 five hundred of my trees I raised by heading of them 

 down. I have found that the best method of culti- 

 vating the trees, is by taking up the seedlings in the 

 fall and burying them in the earth about two feet 

 deep; the spring following, I set them in a nursery, 

 about nine inches apart in a row, the rows about 

 two feet apart ; in the fall, dig them up and bury 

 them again in the earth. The next spring I set them 

 out as standard trees, in the orchard, about four feet 

 square apart. The whole labor of cultivating the 

 trees, is by my own hands. 



I offer, also for premium, a hedge fence on one 

 side of my field, sixty three yards in length, the 

 north side; and on the south side, forty one yards in 

 length. I found by Mr. J. H. Cobb's manual that 

 the white mulberry forms an excellent live fence, 

 and that once established, is probably the most 

 permanent of any. He recommends this as ac- 

 complishing three important objects: supplying food 

 for silkworms; keeping the trees low, that the leaves 

 may be gathered by children from the ground; and, 

 furnishing a good and almost never-ending fence. 



The reason, gentlemen, that I send this statement 

 is, that Mr. Proctor requested me to write it, and he 

 would forward it immediately. I expect that state- 

 ment I sent to Georgetown, miscarried. 



JOSEPH FOSTER. 



Beverly, October 10, 1840. 



