240 HISTORY OF FRtflTS. 



is so entirely decayed, that the timber has so far returned 

 to its native earth, that it will crumble in the hand ; yet 

 its branches, that are supported by props, are so well 

 nourished by means of the bark, that the fruit and the 

 foliage appear as luxuriant as those of the youngest trees : 

 a strong proof of the durability of the mulberry-tree in 

 this country. The first Duke of Northumberland said he 

 could trace these trees back three centuries. 



This fruit is mentioned by Tusser, in 1557, and by Ge- 

 rard in 1597, who notices both the white and the black 

 mulberry, and says they grow in sundry gardens in Eng- 

 land : he adds, " that in Italy they do maintain great 

 woods and groves of them, that their silk-worms may 

 feed thereon." 



The planting of mulberry-trees was much encouraged 

 by King James the First, about the year 1600 ; but 

 parties running so high at that period, the attention of the 

 nation was occupied on political affairs ; and the procuring 

 of silk in England was neglected, and has never since been 

 attempted, although the mulberry-tree has been found to 

 thrive exceedingly well, and the silk-worms to spin as well 

 as in any other part of the world. The mulberry-trees 

 are now alive, and bearing fruit in many parts of the coun- 

 try, that were planted in the time of James the First; which 

 is a proof of their durability. The author has lately seen 

 a mulberry-tree, of the Nigra species, which is supposed to 

 be one of the oldest in England, in the garden of the 

 Rev. Dr. Crombie, adjoining Greenwich Park ; and, not- 

 withstanding its neglected and dilapidated state, it is one 

 of the greatest curiosities he has ever seen in the shape of 

 a fruit-tree in this country. It throws out ten large 

 branches so near the earth, that it has the appearance of 

 half a score of large trees rather than of one ; and not- 

 withstanding many of the projecting branches have been 

 sawed off, still it completely covers a circumference of 



