Tin: NATIVE MULBERRY 163 



wormes prospered excellently well until] the master 

 workeman fell Bick, during which tyme they were eaten 

 with ratts, and this willbe a commoditie n< <i meanely 

 profitable. Now yt is Beriously considered of, and 

 order taken thai yt shalbe duly followed." A part of 

 this statement, in the identical words, is found in John 

 Smith's earlier account of the oatural productions of 

 Virginia. The tree was early spread widely in the 

 settlements. In 174'.). Peter Kalm found it planted at 

 Montreal, where it had been broughl some twenty 

 years before, but the mosl northerly place at which he 

 knew it to grow naturally was "aboul twenty English 

 miles north of Albany." It was early introduced into 

 Europe. 



Although this red mulberry was early planted in 

 cultivated grounds, no attempt appears to have been 

 made to improve its fruit. Michaux speaks of it early 

 in this century as follows: "The fruit 



ruighl easily be augmented in size and quantity by 

 careful cultivation: a verj sensible improvement is 

 witnessed in trees left standing in cultivated fields." 

 William Prince, writing in hi- "Treatise on Horticul- 

 ture." in 1828, speaks of the "Red American, a com- 

 mon native of our forests," as our of the "mosl 

 valued" mulberries "for their fruit," bul lie knew u,, 

 Darned varieties. The Congressional .Manual of 1828 

 gives a good acoounl of the distribution ami attributes 

 of the native red mulberry. "There are several varie- 

 ties in the re. | mulberrj tree," it says, "depending on 



the leaves and fruit : 



" 1 . L'-a\ ea all orbiculated ( round ) . 

 "'_. do dee|i|\ lobed. 



do with three short lobes. 



