57 
from cuttings, and this is perhaps the readiest and most economical 
method of planting to secure a stock. 
The cuttings should be started in rows, 3 or 4 inches apart, in ground 
prepared by deep plowing and harrowing. They should be about 6 
inches long, and should be cut just before an eye in every case. They 
should be almost entirely buried. The quickest way to get a supply of 
leaves is t grow dwarfs. Set out the young trees from the nursery in 
rows 10 to15 feet apart and 6 to 8 feet between the rows, and form the 
crown of the tree by cutting down to a foot or so from the ground. The 
height of the tree and its form are easily regulated by pruning, and 
upon this process depend not only the vigorous growth of the tree, but 
also the ease with which the leaves may be gathered when desired. 
The pruning may be done in February or March, either every year or 
every other year.* All dead twigs and dried bark should be removed 
and the limbs kept as smooth as possible, as this greatly facilitates 
picking. The best time for planting is in the fall, from frost until De- 
cember, and in the spring, from March until May. 
For growing standard high trees, a practical raiser gives the follow- 
ing directions: The cutting should remain two years in the nursery 
without pruning. The third year it is cut close to the ground and trans- 
planted. The finest shoot is then allowed to grow, and in good land it 
will reach a height of 8 or 10 feet in one season. The fourth year it is 
cut back to 6 feet or thereabouts. ‘Then, the three or four terminal buds 
only being allowed to grow, all others are removed as often as they ap- 
pear by passing the hand along the stem. 
It must not be forgotten that 1n the propagation of plants only true 
species can be reproduced from the seed. The varieties of the White 
Mulberry mentioned above can only be obtained from cuttings or layers. 
The fresh mulberry leaf contains a large amount of water of vegeta- 
tion, and of certain mineral and organic matters. Of water, it is only 
necessary that there should be sufficient to enable the worm to easily 
digest its food, and all that is in excess of this quantity is apt to be in- 
jurious and productive of disease. In order to avoid this difficulty, 
food-trees should be planted in alight loam, and especial care taken to 
prevent excessive irrigation. It has been found, too, to be important 
that the tree should be so planted as to receive as much sunlight as 
possible, experiments having shown that, other conditions being equal, 
the leaves of such a tree contained but 55 per cent. of water, while in 
the case of one lighted by the sun until 1 o’clock only there was 64 per 
cent., and in one which received only diffused light, 73 per cent. 
* The better plan is to have two sets of trees, using each set but once in two years, 
When pruned a tree is then allowed to grow for one year without touching its leaves, 
which are only picked for the second season. The life of the tree will thus be ma- 
terially prolonged, and the crop of leaves be more abundant than with annual pieck- 
ings. 
