168 THE CALIFORNIA 



Most of the varieties of the mulberry are esteemed 

 dessert fruit. When perfectly mature, they are grate- 

 ful to the taste, and very wholesome. The syrup is 

 useful in mitigating inflammation of the heart ; the juice, 

 when perfectly fermented, affords a pleasant vinous 

 wine ; mixed with apples, it makes a delicious beverage 

 called mulberry cider, of a deep red color, like port 

 wine. 



The wood of the mulberry is compact, elastic, and 

 hard, and susceptible of a fine polish ; it is, therefore, 

 sought after by the upholsterer, the carver, and the 

 turner. The strength of the timber renders it valuable 

 to the joiner, and also for building boats ; its power of 

 resisting the action of the water, has been compared to 

 that of the oak. 



The roots of the mulberry tree are of a yellow color 

 and strike downwards, and the tree is extremely long- 

 lived. Mr. De Saint Fond saw, in 1802, one of the 

 original or parent trees of all the white mulberry trees 

 of France, which the followers of Charles VIII had 

 Brought from Italy, on his invasion of that country in 

 1494. Mr. Lachaux has caused this tree to be encom- 

 passed by a wall, to evince his respect and veneration, 

 and to serve as a monument to a tree so inestimable. 



Whoever would enter extensively and at once on the 

 cultivation of silk, let him first of all bestow his atten- 

 tion on the culture of the abundant supplies of food ; 

 this principal and essential food being no other than the 

 material leaves of the various species of the mulberry 

 tree. Not every kind, however, is equally suitable. 



