1370 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OP PEACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



mended by the North Carolina station, 

 White English is considered by far the 

 best. It is a heavy bearer, producing 

 sweet, medium-sized fruits of good qual- 

 ity from May to July. The White Rus- 

 sian ^ seems to be a small, bushy, very 

 hardy sort, and quite productive. The 

 fruit is of medium size, white, very sweet 

 and of fair quality. The season is from 

 May to June. 



Varieties for Horthwest 

 In the West and Northwest the Russian 

 mulberry (Morus alba var. tartarica) has 

 proved excellently adapted for planting in 

 shelter belts and hedges and also for 

 fence posts and fuel. This variety is very 

 hardy against both cold and drought and 

 makes a splendid growth there. It is the 

 species commonly used there as a stock 

 on which to propagate the more fruitful 

 varieties. The Russian mulberry pos- 

 sesses particular merit as a hedge plant 

 in cold regions from an ornamental 

 standpoint. There is also a number of 

 ornamental forms of the mulberry, in- 

 cluding weeping sorts, which are exten- 

 sively used in ornamental plantings. 



Propagation 



In propagating the plant for use in 

 hedges or shelter belts the plants are 

 grown from seeds, but for fruit purposes 

 grafting, cutting or layering must be re- 

 sorted to in order to produce varieties 

 true to name. 



Most species of mulberries are easily 

 propagated by means of cuttings. And 

 while the most satisfactory and most 

 economical plan is to use one-year-old 

 branches for this work, twigs of the cur- 

 rent season's growth may also be used. 

 Cutting wood may be removed from the 

 trees soon after the leaves have dropped. 

 Select well-matured, well-developed one- 

 year-old branches from one-quarter to 

 five-eighths inch in diameter. Cut these 

 into pieces, each being provided with from 

 three to six good buds. In Eastern North 

 Carolina the cuttings may be planted im- 

 mediately after removal from the trees, 

 but in the colder sections it is usually 

 best to tie them together in bunches of 

 25 and store them in damp sand in a 

 cellar or pit until spring. 



The cuttings are set out in well-pre- 

 pared soil, making an opening in the 

 ground with a spade, firmly pressing the 

 soil about the base of the plants and cov- 

 ering up to the top bud. It takes longer 

 to produce trees by this method than by 

 budding or grafting. Bench grafting by 

 either the whip, cleft or saddle method 

 is used; or the trees may be grafted out 

 of doors, using either the cleft or whip 

 method. In the South, Multicaulis mul- 

 berry stem or root cuttings are used 

 almost exclusively as stocks, while in 

 the colder West and Northwest, Russian 

 mulberry seedlings are used as stocks. 



In the orchard large-growing trees like 

 New American, White English and Black 

 English should be planted about 30 feet 

 apart, and for such varieties as Stubbs 

 and Hicks 35 feet in the row is close 

 enough between trees. The trees should 

 be set out in the usual manner by cutting 

 off all broken and bruised roots, shorten- 

 ing in the longer roots somewhat and cut- 

 ting back the top. 



*According to Hume and Reimer the 

 mulberry needs little or no cultivation. 

 When planted in chicken yards or where 

 hogs are allowed to run and root no extra 

 cultivation need be given. They will 

 thrive in soddy land, but generally the 

 trees do better where the soil is stirred 

 or worked, as in hog pastures. If any 

 cultivation is given it should be shallow, 

 as the roots spread out near the surface 

 of the ground. Deep plowing should not 

 be practiced. The mulberry requires lit- 

 tle or no pruning. But as the wood is 

 rather brittle and the branches are easily 

 broken by sleet storms, the stubbs 

 which are left should be cut off close up 

 to the trunk and the broken branches cut 

 smoothly off at the ends. 



Wild mulberries have been used since 

 the earliest times in America. Hariot, in 

 his Narrative of the First Plantation of 

 Virginia, which was first printed in 1588, 

 mentions that the Indians used mulber- 

 ries, crabapples and huckleberries, such 

 as were known in England; but the mul- 

 berry has occupied a less important place 



* Office of Experiment Stations, U S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, in Farmer's Bulletin No. 

 276 



