64- Cffw Cabbage. ^ 



bearing fine and early ripe fruit. Expressing my astonish- 

 ment, he told me that, about sixteen years previous, he received, 

 from the gardener at Lambeth Palace, a large branch, which 

 had been blown down, and lay on the ground all winter, from 

 a tree that, tradition says, was the first of the kind imported 

 into England by Cardinal Pole (who died in 1558); from 

 which branch he cut off about a foot of the thick end, and 

 planted it. The first year's shoots were luxuriant. In four 

 3'^ears it was in partial bearing ; in seven, in full bearing, and 

 continuing ever since. On my saying I thought he possessed 

 the greatest curiosity in England, he desired me to look round, 

 and pointed out another, which he had rescued from the fire, 

 to which it had been condemned by a neighbour, by exchang- 

 ing some of his own fire-wood for the mutilated mulberry 

 stump. This Mr. Keene planted in his paved court, where it 

 still grows, though exhibiting sad marks of the bad treatment 

 it had met with. The fruit of this last, though black, was 

 very inferior to the first mentioned (by the by, I do not recol- 

 lect any book on gardening which notices two sorts of black 

 mulberries, though 1 have seen, in a treatise on silk, published 

 in the Transactions of the Society o/' ^r/5, vol. xliii. p. 221., 

 two sorts mentioned, and that the fruit of one is inferior to the 

 other, which may account for the difference of the trees in 

 question) ; and it appears, that either may be raised by plant- 

 ing parts of their branches or stems ; and that they may suc- 

 ceed, it appears necessary that the branch should lie some 

 time on the ground, in order that the sap may thicken before 

 the truncheon is planted. 



As many persons may not like to trouble Mr. Keene on 

 this business, they may look down the gateway, and will see 

 the second-mentioned tree ; and should they want good malt, 

 a necessary ingredient in the beverage which makes gardeners 

 work, they will find a truly honest tradesman in the owner. 



Since writing the above, I find there is a variety of the 

 black mulberry, having jagged leaves and smaller fruit ; but 

 it was too late to ascertain whether the last-mentioned tree 

 was this. Yours, &c. 



Brixton Villa, December. Superficial. 



Art. XXII. Abridged Communications. 



Cow Cabbage. — I received a packet of the seed of this 

 extraordinary cabbage, from a gentleman of Cirencester, who 

 brought it from Jersey, and have sown it. In his garden, I 

 have seen five healthy plants, which weathered last winter, in 



