164 TREES 



dropping fruits are eagerly devoured by the occupants of 

 these enclosures. 



The chief value of the tree lies in the durability of its 

 orange-yellow wood, which, though coarse-grained, soft and 

 weak, is very durable in the soil and in contact with water. 

 Hence it has always commended itseK to fence- and boat- 

 builder. It is sometimes planted for ornament, but its 

 dropping fruit is a strong objection to it as a street or lawn 

 tree. 



One of the mulberry's chief characteristics is its tenacity 

 to life. Its seeds readily germinate and cuttings, whether 

 from roots or twigs, strike root quickly. Indians dis- 

 covered that rope could be made out of the bast fibre of 

 mulberry bark. They even wove a coarse cloth out of the 

 same material. The early settlers of Virginia, who found 

 the red mulberry growing there in great abundance, 

 dreamed in vain of silk culture as an industry based upon 

 this native tree. Their hopes were not realized. Silk 

 culture has never yet become a New- World industry. 



The White Mulberry 



M. alba, Linn. 



The white mulberry is a native of northern China and 

 Japan. From this region it has been extensively intro- 

 duced into all warm temperate climates. Its white 

 berries are of negligible character. It is the leaves that 

 give this oriental mulberry a unique position in the econo- 

 mic world. They are the chosen food of silkworms. No 

 substitute has ever robbed this tree of its preeminence, 

 maintained for many centuries in its one field of useful- 

 ness. 



