IX. THE RED MULBERRY. 281 
the light timber of vessels, it is preferred in Carolina to any 
wood except the red cedar.* 
The use of its leaves as food for silk-worms, has been tried, 
but not with encouraging success. The fruit is very agreeable, 
and by most persons is preferred to that of any other species. 
[have found it growing wild on the Westfield River, where 
it is a small tree about twenty feet in height, like an apple tree. 
The recent shoots are gray, and somewhat downy. Larger 
branches, a light gray or brownish buff, smooth, with prominent 
gray dots. Trunk rough, with long superficial clefts and fur- 
rows. ‘The leaves are heart-shaped, ovate or three-lobed, end- 
ing in a long point, rough on the upper surface, and downy on 
the lower. 
The Black Mulberry, M. nigra, L., is occasionally cultivated 
here, as it has been in most parts of the civilized world from 
very ancient times, for ornament, gnd for its shade. It is sup- 
posed, from the circumstance of its being found, in great num- 
bers, wild in the forests of Persia, to have been originally a 
native of that country, and to have been introduced thence, at 
a very remote period, into Europe; and others thmk it probable 
that it was brought, at a still more remote period, into Persia, 
from China. Its leaves are of no great value as food for the 
silk-worm, and its wood has not much strength or durability. 
Several of the numerous varieties of the White Mulberry, 
M. alba, L., have been introduced, and are much cultivated in 
this country, with reference to the production of silk, the leaves 
having been long considered the natural and best food for the 
silk-worm. None of the varieties are so hardy as the black 
and red mulberries—and their range of climate is much less 
extensive. Its native country is China; but it has been natu- 
ralized in several parts of Europe, and it flourishes in all the 
temperate parts of this continent. It is a rapidly growing 
tree, reaching the height of twenty feet in five or six years, 
and when fully grown, attaining that of thirty or forty feet. 
The Many-stemmed Mulberry, M. milticaulis, is a native 
of China, where it is said to be preferred for the food of silk- 
* Elliott. 
of 
