184 THE CALIFORNIA 



CHAPTER VHI. 



PLANTATION OF THE MULBERRY, ACCORDING TO OUR 

 CALIFORNIA SILK CULTURE. 



Before thinking to raise any silkworms, we have first 

 to plant the mulberry. I have shown before what soil 

 must be selected to plant it ; and how to prepare that 

 soil, and also the different modes of propagating it; 

 and in this last part I add the results of my obser- 

 vations in California, by which we can come in a very 

 short time to have mulberry trees enough in California 

 to cover the whole State. 



The mulberry tree is, of course, but little known in 

 this country, so recent is the awakened interest in its 

 culture ; but it will certainly prove to us a source of 

 great wealth, and it should receive the attention that 

 it merits. It will add another, and decidedly the great- 

 est and most valuable staple to our agriculture, the 

 true source of wealth to any country a staple that 

 will conduce more to the happiness and comfort of our 

 whole country than any other. And I can say here, 

 that there is not another staple that offers such general 

 advantages, and could contribute so largely to enrich 

 the country, as the culture of the mulberry tree, and 

 the raising of silk. But as I have said before in some 

 of my letters, everything must be cultivated in its 

 proper place ; and as California has been designed by 

 nature for that rich culture, let us then cultivate it all 

 over the State. 



