THE MULBERRY. 



313 



In vino countries, the grapes which are reck- 

 oned best suited for making wine, are not the 

 most agreeable to eat. The wine grapes in 

 France, Italy, and Gei-many, as well as in Spain 

 and Portugal, are varieties of the black cluster; 

 while the sweet wines, as Constantia, Malmsy,and 

 Madeira, are varieties of the chasselas and mus- 

 cadine. 



Of the variety of the vine called the black 

 Hamburgh, there are several remarkable trees in 

 England, covering a gi-eat extent of surface, and 

 bearing (under glass) a profusion of the finest 

 fruit. Of these, among the most celebrated are 

 the Hampton Court vine, and the vine at Valen- 

 tines, in Essex. The Hampton Court vine, al- 

 ready alluded to, is in a grape-house on the north 

 side of the palace: it covers a surface of twenty- 

 two feet by seventy-two, or 1G94 square feet. 

 It is a most productive bearer, having seldom fewer 

 than two thousand clusters upon it every season. 

 In the year 1816, thei-e were at least 22-10, weigh- 

 ing each, on the average, a pound; so that the 

 whole crop weighed a ton, and, merely as an ai- 

 ticle of commerce, was worth upwards of £400. 

 The Valentines vine extends over a greater sur- 

 face, and has a larger trunk, than that at Hamp- 

 ton Court; but it is not, on the average of sea- 

 sons, so productive. It has, however, been known 

 to produce two thousand bunches of a pound 

 each. 



The Mulberry (morus nigra). This tree, 

 more celebrated as affording leaves on which the 



119. 



Tlie Mulberry. 



silk-worm feeds than for its fruit, which is, how- 

 ever, of a very grateful quality, belongs to the 

 class motmcia, and order tctrandria of LinniEus. 

 It is rather a small tree, and sends off crooked 

 branches, which are covered with a rough brown 

 bark. The leaves are numerous, heart-shaped, 

 serrated, veined, rough, of a bright green colour, 



and stand upon short foot-stalks. The flowers 

 are male and female upon the same tree, the 

 male being placed in close catkins. The fruit is 

 a large succulent berry, composed of a number 

 of smaller berries, each containing an oval seed, 

 and affixed to a common receptacle. It flowers 

 in June, and its fruit ripens in September. The 

 ripe fruit abounds with a deep violet-coloured 

 juice, which in its general qualities agrees with 

 the other acidulous fruits. 



The mulberry tree appears to have formed an 

 object of cultivation at a very early period in the 

 western parts of Asia, and in Europe. The at- 

 tention there bestowed upon it must have been 

 solely on account of its fruit ; for the knowledge 

 of the mode of rearing silk- worms was confined 

 to the people of central and southern Asia till 

 the sixth century. We read in the Psalms that 

 the Almighty wrath destroyed the " mulberry 

 trees with frost ;" and this must have been re- 

 corded as a remarkable instance of the divine 

 displeasure, for the mulberry is universally 

 known not to put forth its buds and leaves till 

 the season is so far advanced that, in the ordinary 

 course of events, there is no inclement weather 

 to be apprehended. It has therefore been called 

 the wisest of trees ; and in heraldry it is adopted 

 as " an hieroglyphic of wisdom, whose property 

 is to speak and to do all things in opportune sea- 

 son." In the history of the wars of David ^vith 

 the Philistines, the mulberry tree is mentioned 

 as a familiar object. Pliny says of it, somewhat 

 questionably, that "when it begins to bud, it 

 despatches the business in one night, and that 

 with so much force, that their breaking forth 

 may be distinctly heard." 



In this country there are many old nmlberry 

 trees of large dimensions, and remarkable also 

 for the quantity of fruit they bear. It is pro- 

 bable that some of these old trees were planted 

 at the latter end of the sixteenth and the begin- 

 ning of the seventeenth centuries ; for James I. 

 endeavoured to render the cultivation of the tree 

 general, in the same way that Henry IV. had 

 laboured to introduce it in France. The first 

 mulberry trees of England are said to have been 

 planted at Sion House, the seat of the duke of 

 Northumberland, in 1548 ; and the trees, though 

 decayed in the trunk, still bear fruit. Mulberry 

 gardens were common in tiie seventeenth cen- 

 tury in the neiglibourhood of London ; but either 

 from the climate, or the prejudices of the people, 

 the growth of silk never prospered. The mul- 

 berry is distinguished for the facility with whicli 

 it may be propagated. A cutting from a tree 

 which has borne fi-uit will soon become a vigor- 

 ous plant. It is recorded that, at Bruce castle, 

 at Tottenham, an immense branch being torn off 

 by the wind from an old mulberry tree, about 

 forty years ago, the branch was thrust into the 

 ground, and flourished. It is now a handsome 



