164 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



"4. Fruit, berries nearly white. 



"5. Fruit, berries blueish purple. 



"6. do do red and long. 



"7. do do blackish red." 



Up to this time, no distinct domestic variety of the 

 red mulberry had been introduced. Yet it is a signifi- 

 cant fact that the first -named variety of mulberry 

 originating in this country is an offspring of this wild 

 Mnnts rubra, and not an offshoot of the many foreign 

 types which had been introduced here. This variety 

 is the Johnson. The first mention of it, so far as I 

 know, is in the first edition of Downing's "Fruits and 

 Fruit Trees," in 184.".. 



Four well-marked named varieties of this red mul- 

 berry have appealed in cultivation.— the Johnson. 

 Hicks. Stubbs, and Lampasas, the first three named 

 for persons who were instrumental in introducing 

 them t<> the public. They are all chance varieties found 

 in the woods or wild places. If the mulberry were a 

 fruit of great importance, numbers <»t' distinct varieties 

 would no doubt soon be bred from this native mulberry 

 stock. In the original edition of A. -1. Downing's 

 - Kniits and Fruit Trees," 1845, it is said that the 

 varietj known as Johnson has been "lately received 

 from Professor Kirtland. of Cleveland, one of the most 

 intelligent horticulturists in the country-." and it is 

 distinctly stated that it is a form of our native Bpecies. 

 Charles Downing reaffirms this latter statement in 

 Purdy's "Fruit Recorder," in 1872, and in comparing 

 tii,. fruit with that of the wild Morus rubra, says that 

 ii is "of about the same quality, bu1 of larger - 

 l n the second revision of "Fruits and Fruit Ti 

 L872, by Charles Downing, it is described as follow-: 



