vol.. xvm. NO. 46. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



385 



I 



ESSAY ON THE MULBKRRY TREE. 



The ful lowing essay on tlie null berry, presented 

 to the Miissiiclmset'.s Society the last winter, re 

 ceived their preniinni of lifty dollars. For his inde- 

 taticfable exertions, his enliglilened zeal, and his 

 generous conduct in relation to the cultivation of 

 the nuilherry tree, the distribution of plants and 

 cuttings, the obtaininpr ind circulating authentic 

 information, and for his active and public spirited 

 exertions in proniotini; ngricultiiral kuowled^fe and 

 improvement in his own county and State, there is 

 no man auionor us more entitled bi respect and hon- 

 or than its author. He has been many years llie 

 Secretary of the Hampshire, Hampden and Frank- 

 lin Agricultural Society, has been indefatigable in 

 his exertions to promote its objects, has stood by it 

 in its extremity, and we hope may live n;any years 

 to see it move on with new and powerful success in 

 the improvement of a part of the country, where of 

 all others an enlij/htened agriculture ought to find 

 its home and its most devoted friends. H. C. 



To Pfter C Brooks, ll'm. PrcscoU, E. H. Derby, Josinh 

 Quincy, Jr., and Eliiis Pkinney, Esq's. Committee of 

 tfte MuSiitckusetts Society for Fromoting Jigrictilture : 

 Gentlemen — In your list of premiums, under 

 the article "Trees and Live He<lgps," is the fol- 

 lowing: "To the person who shall otibr the best 

 communication on the mulberry tree, in relation to 

 silk culture, showing by experiment or otherwise, 

 how to be most advantageously managed, what spe- 

 cies is best suited to our climate, the effect of the 

 winter thereon, and if injurious, the best remedy 

 therefor." 



Gentlemen, you will please indulge me in the 

 following remarks, and preserve them on your files, 

 to compare with the experience of coming years. 

 Permit me to inform you, that having many years 

 exercised the office of secretary and one of the ex- 

 ecutive committee of the Hamp.shire, Franklin and 

 Hampden .\gricultural Society, and wishing to in- 

 troduce to the Consideration of the Society the cul- 

 ture of silk, in connection with other agricultural 

 crops, with the full belief that it might be made a 

 profitable business for our farmer.", eapecially if a 

 tree could be introduced and propagated at a mode- 

 rate expense, which would produce as good foliage 

 and a larger leaf than the Italian white mulberry. 

 Three inorus multicaulis trees had been purchased 

 by as many individuals, at one dolUir each : these 

 had been engrafted on the white mulberry stock. 

 We thi n had no conceptitm that the tree could be 

 multiplied any other way. It occurred to me that 

 if the fruit or seed of the genuine mulberry could 

 be obtained, that the trees might be multiplied with 

 more facility and at less expense than by the slow 

 process of engrafting. I wrote to one ofthe Ameri- 

 can missionaries, stationed at Canton, China, who 

 was a native of this county, describing to him the 

 leaf of our common mulberry and of the multicau- 

 lis, so called, with an urgen*. request, in behalf of 

 the public III lari^s, and in particular for the benefit 

 ofthe agricultural society of Old Hampshire, that 

 if practicable, to forward me the seed of the frcnii- 

 ine and mosl approved mulberry for feeding worms 

 and makiuL' silk in Cliini. Seed was forwarded 

 me, which the Rev. E. C. Bridgman wrote uie was 

 considered the very best, and such as used and 

 most approved by the Chinese for making silk ; but 

 that if it did not prove such, he would try again. 

 The seed was rcceiveil and sown in 1834 ; and oth- 

 er equally good seed in 1838: both yielding a 



splendid thick leaf of 10 by !) inches, of a beautiful , and reeling the silk need not exceed two dollars 



dark green, the buds very close set on the stalks, 'the pound. 



producing as much, as good, as nutritious foliage,] To preserve trees for the winter, they may be 



and as easily propagated by layers or cuttings as any ' deposited in a dry cellar, the roots, and if conve- 



known mulberry. Worms have been fed five seasons j nient, tlie tops covered with dry earth ; or may be 



on ti;e foliage ofthe l.^rge leaf Canton, and for experi- deposited in a hole in the lield, dug before the 



met t, the present year, worms of the same hatching ] frost on high and dry ground. 



and same attention have been fed on the foliage (d' Trees of oue eeasoi^.B growth, from seed, layers, 



the large leaf Canton separately, on one table or <„. cuttings, should have protection the first year. 



hurdle; .-.nd oth,^rs.ol the same day's hatching and I Freezing of itself does not injure the mulberry, it 



with the same attention, were fed on foliage ofthe j i^ u,^, sudden freezing and alternate thawing, par- 



multicaulis and other varieties, (except the Canton) ! ticularly in the month of March, which is so .le- 



and the worms fed exclusively on the Canton grew ! gt^uctive to tender mulberries. 



much faster than the others: the difference was so , i , r^ , r • , ,- ^ 



1 have Cantons, of three and four years of age, 



standing out winter and sunmier, and in a vigorous 

 ndition, yet they do not produce so much or So 



great that being seen by gentlemen from different I 

 Stales, while feeding, were judged to be twice as ! 

 large as the worms fed on the other varieties. Bull 

 testing them by several weighings with the scales, I 

 the difference was found as 5 to 7 in favor of the | 

 Canton feed ; and when the cocoons were wound. | 

 another examination 

 Rev. Mr Hatch of Alab; 



Carolina, and several distinguished gentlemen of I 

 this village, and alter various weighings of the co- 

 cooas, the result was as 5 to 8 in favor of the Can- 

 ton feed. A gentleman from Connecticut informs 

 me that he and all of his neighbors have had one 

 and the .same result, of feeding (m the large leaf 

 Canton and common white mulberry separately, and 

 that the coc ions fed wholly on the Canton, were 

 one third heavier or larger than those fed on the 

 white mulberry. I have myself cocoons fed wholly 

 on the Canton, and others fed wholly on the white, 

 and every one who has seen them, discovers a great 

 difference in the brilliancy and lustre, in favor of 

 the Canton, and when examined under a glass, the 

 difference is nearly as great as between the Sa.fon 



large foliage as others which have protection du- 

 ring the winter, or those headed down. I am of 

 the opinion, that America is destined to become a 



, , , , I silk growing country : we have abundance of the 



I liail in presence ol the ' ■ i . i • j c i -i i • i . .i 



r. ...,,. », . I riffht kind of dry, warm soil, on which to grow the 



ama, Dr B. Hill of North ^,. c ,• , -1.^1.. 



' mulberry, from which migfit be taken as great a 



crop in silk as from our best lands devoted to the 



usual crops. 



I am confident in the ultimate success of the 

 silk culture, and could wish that all speculation in 

 the silk tree might cease, and the trees be appro- 

 printed to the legitimate object ; and that no one 

 could purchase a tree, except for the purpose of 

 growing silk. All of which is submitted, with due 

 respects, DANIEL STEBBINS. 



JVoithamplon, StptcrAber 2d, J839. 



P. S. October 1839. I am now preparing my 

 mulberries for the winter. Some thousands of .Asiatic 

 and Alpines! shall leave standing in the open fields, 

 „....,. ^..»,- . .. J .... f''""' "" "■'•■■^^'' '"^ "''■^"." ! with tops and branches, which have giown from 

 and our country wool. The large leaf Canton is I , ^ ,. ,- , ^. ^ . 



• the root this season, from three to nine feet in 



more hardy than the multicaulis, yet it is not pru- 

 dent to expose it to the severity of Avinter without 

 some slight protection. The roots and stumps left. , , <• ■ , 



» c. . 1 ■ o-.i . . I . -1 o- 1 i stumps, the tops pieserved for cuttings ; a few 



out alter taking oif tne tops to about 2 or 3 inches ' ,. .,, ... j 



height, and had splendid foliage, and shall leave out 

 thousands of the large leaf Canton roots and 



above the root, may be pieserved in a dry place in 



multicaulis will also be exposed. 



the cellar or the field, and covering the same with i Others, of every vari.'ty, will be protected in a 

 dry earth, and the whole might be' preserved in the | 'Jry cellar ; some set out and some covered root 

 same way ; the sliglitest covering for the root left i »"'• Iranch. Others, of every variety, will be de- 

 out, like the grape, is the best. j positetl in a hole in the open field, dug three feet 

 There are mulberries in use which are suitable , '•'■<'?• I" tiie same hole, one parcel will be placed 

 for our climate, sonic of which, to wit, the Asiatic ' t'"' '"»"'•« ^° each bank, and without any earth up- 

 and Alpine, are estimated to afford as much and : <>" either root or branch. Another parcel to 

 as good foliage as the multicaulis; tlie latter is j have both roots and branches covered with earth, 

 manifestly too tnder to expose to our winter blasts I -^"o^her parcel set out and dry earth intermixed, 

 and the large leaf Canton is much too valuable to ' Each of the above methods have been successfully 

 be unnecessarily exposed ; yet the roots may be : tried, but not every variety in the same place side 



left out and the tops preserved for cuttings. 



by side. The trees to be covered with boards and 



It has been found that trees taken up and reset'" mound of earth over, that no water should get in. 

 in the spring, have had earlier foliage than the same , T'e last winter I left out several hundred.s of Can- 

 tree left out all winter. There is great economy j t"" ''""ts '^"d stumps ; some were covered with turf, 

 in beading down every mulberry, causing a greater 1 otl'^rs ^vith yard manure, others with earth, others 

 number of stalks from the roots and more foliage, j ^"it'' ^ ^<^''' "'''eda "r leaves, and others without any 



There i^ n.i evidence that the multicaulis is used cohering. The latter were uninjured. These with 

 for feed in China. But I have the best of evi- the slightest covering the next best; but these 

 dciice, living and historical evidence, that the tree covered with earth manure and turf were injured 



here called the Canton, is the tree used in China. 

 Gentlemen who are conversant with China, and 

 often visited Canton, have said that silk made in 

 the high latitudes is uniformly 20 per cent higher 

 than silk raised in the low latitudes: such a cli- 



by over heating and some killed both stein and 

 roots; and, on the 31st day of October, fiiund that 

 some sprouts had started from a few of th" appa- 

 rent dead roots, but had not appeared above the 

 surface. Another fact, of some importance, I have 



I mate and latitude has New England. It has been f<>u"d by the two last years experience, that roots 

 demonstrated in this county, that raw silk can be I "'I'icli have been taken in and reset in the spring, 

 ! made for two dollars the pound, or even less ; an I have earlier foliage than roots or trees which had 

 j when well reeled is worth six dollars the pound heen left out during the winter. 

 ! The gUliering of the foliage, feeding the worms I D. STEBBINS. 



