THE BLACK MULBERRY 167 



varieties of importance; for although these trees arc 

 somewhat Foreign to the purpose of a book upon native 

 fruits, we may find their evolution t<> be so interesting 

 that we cannot forego the pleasui f an acquaintance- 

 ship with them. We have already learned that the 

 fruit-bearing mulberry of the Old World, and therefore 

 of history, is the black {Morns nigra) t and that our 

 own cultivated varieties have been assumed t<> belong 

 to it. As a matter of Pact, however, it is very little 

 known in America. It is not hardy, except in pro- 

 tected places, in New ESngland and New York. The 

 Black Persian mulberry of the South and of California 

 is undoubtedly this species. This variety, with others, 

 w.i- inserted in the fruit catalogue of the American 

 Pomological Society for 1875. It was dropped from 

 the catalogue in 1883, and has not been inserted Bince. 

 It is named in Wickson's "California Fruits," L889, 

 without particular comment. The same volume also 

 mentions the black mulberry of Spain, as having been 

 fruited by Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, California. 

 This I take to !"• Mortis nigra. There must be large 

 regions in this country which are congenial to the true 

 black mulberry, and it is strange thai it is so little 

 known. The fruit of this species is much larger than 

 that of any other, and it possesses an agreeable subacid 

 flavor. The fruits "t the white mulberry (Moms alba), 

 however, are often too sweet for most tastes when 

 fully ripe, and in such case thej should be picked 



!••• the} have fullj matured. 



We have seen that the multicaulis mulberry quickly 

 passed from Bight after the speculative collapse of l v 19 

 and the hard whiter of l^ii \,\ one record of tin- 

 old contagion is lefl to us in the Downing mulberry 



