240 MULBERRIES. 



spotting and sudden decay long before the fruit is ma- 

 tured. 



It is not, therefore, easy to maintain that necessary 

 balance of heat and moisture which in Persia arises out 

 of the very nature of the climate and mode of cultivation* 



In that country, we are told, that the melon is grown 

 in open fields, intersected in every direction by small 

 streams, between which lie elevated beds richly manured 

 with pigeons' dung. Upon these beds the melons are 

 planted. The Persian gardener has, therefore, to guard 

 against nothing but a scarcity of water, the rest is pro- 

 vided by his own favourable climate. With us the 

 atmosphere, the ventilation, the water, and the heat, are 

 all artificial agents, operating in opposition to each 

 other. 



The most successful method of cultivation which 

 has yet been practised, seems to be to supply the plants 

 abundantly with water at the roots, but to give them as 

 little as possible over head ; to combine copious ventila- 

 tion and high temperature by means of frequently renew- 

 ing the linings with hot dung, and to elevate each fruit 

 a few inches above the soil, by means of a slate laid upon 

 two bricks placed side by side. 



CHAP. XL 



MULBERRIES. 



THE only Mulberries cultivated in England are the 

 black and the white fruited : the black for its fruit, the 

 white for the feeding of silkworms. Black Mulberries 

 are propagated by laying down the young branches in 

 the autumn, or early in the spring. At the end of the 



