1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 105 



the leaves of the white mulberry are as favorable to the health 

 and growth of the worms, and to the production of silk, both 

 in respect to quantity and quality, as any which is known. 

 The white mulberry is comparatively a hardy tree, though in 

 severe winters it is generally killed at the extremities of the 

 smaller branches ; and in the cold winter of 1834-5, when a 

 great amount of the tender varieties of the apple were destroy- 

 ed, the white mulberry suffered as severely as other trees. At 

 this time nearly two thirds of the white mulberry growing in 

 Mansfield, Conn., and, even trees of an advanced age, were ut- 

 terly destroyed. 



Among the white mulberry trees valuable selections in re- 

 spect to the size of the leaf may be made with great advan- 

 tage. Its thriftiness, like that of other plants, depends upon 

 its cultivation, and it is susceptible of great improvement by a 

 careful engrafting of scions from the best kinds, into others of 

 the same species. This mode of improvement has been long 

 practised by European cultivators, and with great success. 

 Among the French, engrafting is considered indispensable. 



3. The Broussa mulberry is a variety introduced into the 

 country from Smyrna and Constantinople, and propagated with- 

 out difficulty from the seed. The leaf of this tree is not larger 

 than that of the white mulberry. Its foliage is very thickly set 

 on the branches ; and the leaves are thick and heavy, as well as 

 abundant. They are healthy for the worms. They produce a 

 good silk. They endure the climate of New England without 

 injury. I have not seen trees of this kind of any large size j 

 but those, which I have seen, threw up very numerous branch- 

 es from the root, and yielded a large amount of foliage. 



4. The Alpine denotes another variety, which has been 

 greatly commended. The designation of this variety, if it is 

 to be called a variety, belongs to this country. Samuel Whit- 

 marsh, of Northampton, who has been prominent in his enter- 

 prising attempts to introduce the culture of silk into the Uiiited 

 States, in 1834, visited Italy and France for the purpose of ob- 

 taining from the fountain head, and in the most authentic 



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