Silk Manufacture. 83 



to be readily distinguishable, by its superiority over that pro- 

 duced when the insect is fed on the leaf of the full-grown 

 mulberry tree. 



'Plants which are raised from seed require transplantation 

 at the end of the third year, to induce the spreading of the 

 root. Without this removal they would acquire only one 

 root, like a pivot, and would be liable to various casualties 

 on that account. Some cultivators believe that it assists this 

 branching out of roots, if the plants are cut even with the 

 ground at the end of the second year. 



' The most easy and expeditious way of raising mulberry 

 trees is from cuttings. Although as great a number cannot 

 so readily be raised in this manner as from seed, there is a 

 great advantage in point of strength as well as in the rapidity 

 of their growth. This method of propagation is much more 

 successful in moist and temperate climes than in such as are 

 exposed to the arid heat of the lower latitudes. Cuttings 

 will put forth shoots of about five or six inches in length dur- 

 ing the first summer, and will, at the same time, be providing 

 themselves with roots. If they have put forth shoots, and 

 preserve their leaves until the autumn, the plants will gener- 

 ally succeed : any which have failed to do so must be replaced 

 by other cuttings. In the course of the ensuing spring and 

 summer, if carefully watered, the shoots will frequently attain 

 the length of eighteen inches. In the autumn following the 

 beds must be thinned, and the redundant saplings planted 

 out. 



' Mulberry plantations which are formed in France and Italy 

 consist of large standard trees. This is a very inconvenient 

 method ; as the leaves cannot be gathered but by the aid of 

 ladders, and by climbing among the branches. In this way 

 the trees may sustain much injury; besides which a great 

 deal of time is unnecessarily wasted in reaching the leaves, 

 which then are seldom gathered with regularity. 



' Du Halde, in his history of China, relates that the Chinese 

 are particular so to place and to prune their mulberry trees, 

 that the leaves may be gathered in the easiest manner, and 

 without risk of damage to the trees. These are, with this 

 view, cut in a hollow form, without any intersecting branches 

 in the middle ; so that a person going round the tree may 

 gather all the outside leaves, and afterwards, by standing 

 withinside, and merely turning round to the different parts, 

 may pluck the leaves growing within. The trees are not 

 allowed to grow to any great height ; so that each tree forms 

 a sort of round hedge, and may be reached throughout with- 

 out climbing on its branches. 



