TTRTICACE^.. 231 



Histon/. — The whito mulberry is a native of Cliina and Japan ; it wa<; 

 introduced into Europe about the middle of the fifteenth century, and soon 

 became naturalized in Italy and Greece, as well as in Asia Minor and Armenia. 

 Cortes procured its introduction into Mexico in 1 522 ; it was sent to Virginia 

 in 1619 by order of James I., and its cultivation was commanded by law. 



Up to the time of the Revolution the British government paid a bounty on 

 raw silk produced in the North American colonies ; some of this silk was, in 

 1772, presented to the queen and to the wives of the propriet(jrs of Pennsyl- 

 vania bv Dr. Franklin, then the agent of Pennsylvania in London. In the 

 same year a colony of Saltzburgers, who were familiar with the mulberry and 

 silk culture, sent to England from their settlement of New Ebenezer, in 

 Georgia, nearlv 500 pounds of silk. Shortly afterward the settlement was 

 broken up. and the industry was obliterated during the Revolution. Upon 

 the restoration of peace, efforts were made in many of the states, dating 

 from 1783 in Connecticut to 1866 iu California, to revive the industry by 

 legislation. In 1838 a mania for the importation of and speculation in the 

 plants of M. alba, var. multicaulis, of the South Sea Islands, broke out in the 

 United States, hundreds of thousands of dollars having been invested during 

 a single week in Pennsylvania alone. The passion for the cultivation of the 

 tree subsided within "a year, but the species remains, and has become 



naturalized. • x- , 



Dn account of the absence of cheap and abundant skilled labor in North 

 America, all stimulations bv government aid have failed to establish the mul- 

 berry and silk culture there, while China, Japan, western India, Italy, and the 

 Levant, where chea|. skilled labor can be found, have become the sources of 

 the world's supplv. 



f;se. — M. rubra, or the red mulberry, has a hard, light, durable wood, much 

 used in ship-building in the southern' United States for the light timbers of 

 vessels and boats. The fruit is blackish-red, with an agreeable subacid taste. 

 It is wholesome and refreshing when eaten directly from the tree before the 

 acetous fermentation sets in. The leaves are rough, and are used for feeding 

 silk-worms, Init for this purpose are inferior to the leaves of the M. alba. 



M. alba, or the white mulberry, is the tree so extensively grown for the 

 culture of silk-worms, and the finest and strongest silks are produced from 

 worms fed upon its leaves. It is a much more rapid grower than the other 

 species of this genus, and is di.stinguished by its many slender white-barked 

 shoots. Its leaves are slender, and highly charged with a glutinous, milky 

 .substance resembling the sap of the hevea. This substance gives strength to 

 the silk produced bv the silk- worms fed on its leaves. Trees grown upon 

 high, gravelly, poor soil, in hilly localities produce better silk than trees 

 grown upon generous soil. 



ULMUS. (Elm.) Flowers in lateral group:?, appearing in advance 

 of the leaves, bisexual and monoecious ; calyx campannlate. ;'>- or 4-8- 

 lobed, imbricate in the bud, persistent; stamens equal in number to 

 segments ; style short, or wanting; stigmas 2. Fruit a samara, with 

 a membranous wing. Leaves alternate, stipulate, serrate, feather- 

 veined, usually unequal at the base, rough to the touch. Flowers 

 reddish-white. 



1. TJ. Americana. L. (American Elm. Wliitc Elm. Weeping Elm.> Trunk 

 2 to 5 feet iu diameter near the base, usually dividing into 2 or more branches 



