1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 109 



though the dimate is milder than in the northern parts of 

 France, the sudden changes from heat to cold in the 'early 

 spring are too severe ; whilst further north the leaves start late 

 and suffer less in consequence. If the Morus Multicaulis 

 suffers thus at Montpelier, how much more objectionable would 

 it be in our climate that is so liable to these changes." 



I will add in this place a quotation from a private letter from 

 France to a commercial house in Philadelphia of the highest 

 respectability, received last autumn : 



" The mulberry tree, known by the name of Morus Multi- 

 caulis, which has been shipped from France to the United 

 States in a very large quantity, and sold there to farmers 

 throughout the country by speculators as the best species, is 

 considered by the French and the Italians as the very Avorst ; 

 and it is now grown only to sell, not to cultivate, at the request 

 of these crazy American speculators. There is no demand 

 whatever for this tree to plant in Europe. It is throwing both 

 money and time away to attempt the Morus Multicaulis." 



The Chevalier Soulange Bodin, one of the highest authori- 

 ties in Europe, in a recent private letter, speaks of the " Morus 

 Multicaulis as a tree of which much good and much evil has 

 been said ; but like other gifts from heaven it is requisite that 

 it should be managed with discretion, which is also a gift from 

 heaven. The rapidity of its multiplication, the abundant pro- 

 duct of its leaves, and the facility of collecting them, have 

 certainly very much contributed, whatever may be the final 

 result, to aid in the happy solution of a great question in agri- 

 cultural and commercial economy, which has agitated with 

 equal emulation the new as well as the ancient world." 



These testimonies are certainly disinterested ; and I shall 

 leave them to have what force they may upon the minds of 

 the inquisitive and intelligent. It is certain that the tree is not 

 capable of enduring the rigors of our climate, under our pres- 

 ent modes of cultivation. In this state it has been repeatedly 

 killed, and in this way great losses have been sustained. I do 

 not despair, however, of its being acclimated here. The peach 



