MULTICAULIS SPECULATION 153 



"Tin- times were rife with speculation. The gn 

 panic and disaster of 1837 had thrown to the Burface 

 many restless, nnscrnpnlons spirits, who were willing 

 to embark in any enterprise, however daring or doubt- 

 ful its character, which seemed to promise tin- slightest 

 opportunity of regaining the fortunes they had lost. 

 Numbers of these plunged into the multicaulis specu- 

 lation, and made it more disastrous in its results than 

 it otherwise would have heeu ; but there is this ground 

 of consolation in regard to them, that not one of them 

 escaped the rnin they helped to bring upon others." 



I will transcribe even another account of this wild 

 speculation, in order that the reader may see tins 

 curious chapter in our history as understood by different 

 students. Tin- following is extracted from a paper 

 on "Th«- silk Industry in the United States from 

 1766 to 1874," by A. T. Lilly, contained in a hull. -tin 

 of the "National Association of Wool Manufacturers," 



Mr. Lilly speaks of this >i illation as the 



"multicaulis fever," and then continues: "Haste to 

 be rich led the way. Instead of the old method of 

 planting mulberry orchards with tin- well-known and 

 hardy varieties of the tree, the Bystem was adopted of 

 lecuring from t r>---- of a single season's growth leaves 

 lit tor feeding. For tlii- purpose, planting in close 

 hills or in hedges was accessary, and the Morus multi- 

 caulis was the favorite tree. Its luxuriant growth, 

 when stimulated, was Indeed remarkable. Its leaves, 

 led to th»- worm, produced a silk thai was not equal 

 in quality to that from the white mulberry. The trees 

 had to in- housed in winter, either in cellars or in 

 earth-vaults. Notwithstanding the objections to it. 

 tin- multicaulis grew rapidly in popular favor. Rarely 



