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The mulberry-tree is stated to have been 

 introduced to this country in the year 1548, 

 and it is said that it was first planted at 

 Sion House, where the original trees still 

 thrive, and which I have seen since the first 

 part of this work has been put to press. 

 The interior of these trees is so entirely de- 

 cayed, 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 Nor- 

 thumberland said he could trace these trees 

 back three centuries. 



This fruit is mentioned by Tusser, in 1557, 

 and by Gerard in 1597, who notices both the 

 white and the black mulberry, and says they 

 grow in sundry gardens in England: 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 1605 ; but parties running so high at 

 that period, the attention of the nation was 



