Morus 1607 



Koch ^ never found it in the wild state in all his travels in the Orient ; and Radde ^ 

 states that it is only naturalised in the Caucasus. 



According to Loudon, it was first introduced^ into England in 1548, when a few 

 trees were planted at Syon, one of which still survives. Canon Ellacombe,* however, 

 believes that its introduction was much earlier, and adduces in support of this, that 

 morat, a favourite drink in Anglo-Saxon times was a kind of mead, flavoured with 

 mulberries. Morus, however, signified blackberry as well as mulberry ; and morat 

 may have been flavoured with blackberries. (A. H.) 



Though the mulberry was often planted in old gardens and the remains of some 

 still exist which may be over 300 years old, we are unable to find a tree of great size 

 or age which is not more or less decayed at present. 



The oldest, supposed to have been planted in the sixteenth century at Syon 

 House, by the botanist Turner, was in Loudon's time 22 ft. high, and still exists ; 

 and though a wreck is one of the largest we know. Loudon speaks of one 

 at Wardour Castle 40 ft. high, but I could find no trace of it when I was there 

 in 1904. Among the drawings of the late E. Lees, there is one made in 1858 

 of a tree at the White Ladies, Worcester, partly prostrate, which seemed of 

 unusual size, but I cannot hear whether it still exists. At Wotton House, 

 Gloucester, a fine tree, 1 1 ft. in girth at 3 ft. from the ground, is said to have 

 been planted by Queen Elizabeth. At Stoke Edith, Herefordshire, I saw 

 in 1905, a very old tree with a prostrate trunk which had thrown up several 

 stems. In front of the headmaster's house at Eton, Henry measured, in 1907, a 

 tree 30 ft. by 8 ft. 3 in. There are old trees at Christ's, Jesus, and Emmanuel 

 Colleges at Cambridge, which may have been planted in obedience to the edict 

 of James L in 1605, recommending the cultivation of silkworms and offering 

 mulberry seed to all who would sow them. Christ's College purchased 300 trees 

 in 1608. There are old trees at Dunster Castle and at Pembroke College, 

 Oxford. One at Abington Park, Northamptonshire, is said to have been planted 

 in 1778, by David Garrick. 



In Scotland it exists on walls, but rarely fruits. In Ireland we have seen no 

 large specimens, but Loudon mentions one in the grounds at Terenure, near Dublin, 

 which was 25 feet high with a head 130 ft. in circumference. 



The mulberry is a tree which has lost its former popularity in this country, and 

 is now seldom planted, but as it requires more heat and sun than it usually gets 

 in England, it is better^ on a wall than as a standard, if grown for its fruit. It is 

 perhaps best propagated by means of large cuttings, which soon take root, and its 

 fruiting is improved by careful pruning. It ripens seed in hot seasons, but the 

 seedlings are very slow in growth, some that I raised in 1901 from home- 

 grown seeds being now only 2 to 3 ft. high, as their young wood ripens badly. 



The wood of the mulberry is very like that of Robinia in texture, colour, and 

 useful properties ; but yellow when fresh, it acquires in the course of time a brownish 



1 Dendrologie, ii. pt. i. 444 (1872). ^ Pflanzetmerb. Kaukasusliind. 1S2 (1899). 



3 In Gard. Chron. 1868, p. 79, it is said that title-deeds, in the possession of Sir Henry Austen, showed that a mulberry 

 tree, which was formerly growing at Shelford, was planted as a sapling in 1537. 



* Plant-lore of Shakespeare, 176 (1896). ' Cf. Williams, in Trans. Hort. Soc. ii. 91 (1817.) 



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