130 



RAW-SILK. 



^K.) lich, the Secretary to the Horticultural and Agri- 

 BJirdofT^Ide cultural Society, and the several Commercial 

 8 July 1S33. Residents most likely to have it in their power to 

 furnish the required information, with respect to 

 the different species of the mulberry-tree cultivated 

 in Bengal, and other points connected with it. 



As the correspondence in question comprises 

 the whole of the matters referred to us, we do not 

 deem it necessary further to trouble your Lord- 

 ship with any opinion of our own on the occasion. 



E.vfract Letter from Dr. Wallich, the Super in- 

 tendent of the Botanic Garden, dated the \2th 

 April, 1833. 



Dr. Waiiich'9 I am not acquainted with any plant of agricul- 

 12 A^pTii 1833. tural or commercial interest, of which the natural 

 history is involved in greater doubt and obscurity 

 than the mulberry. The cultivated species are 

 scarcely to be distinguished from each other by 

 the ordinary characters employed for that purpose 

 in other plants ; at least all attempts of this sort 

 have proved abortive, and recourse is therefore 

 had to marks derived from the size of the tree, 

 place of growth, colour of the fruit, and the like, 

 all of which are vague and unsatisfactory. In 

 point of fact, the real species of mulberry are very 

 few in number, and plants which have hitherto 

 been considered as species are in all probability 



nothing 



