On the Propagation of the Mulberry Tree. 115 



selection and management of cuttings of that, and, probably, 

 of other species of trees. 



Every leaf-bud is well known to be capable of extending 

 itself into a branch, and of becoming the stem of a future 

 tree ; but it does not contain, nor is it at all able to prepare 

 and assimilate the organizable matter required for its exten- 

 sion and development. This must be derived from a dif- 

 ferent source, the albumous substance of the tree, which 

 appears to form the reservoir, in all this tribe of plants, in 

 which such matter is deposited. I found a very few grains 

 of alburnum to be sufficient to support a bud of the Vine, 

 and to occasion the formation of minute leaves and roots ; 

 but the early growth of such plants was extremely slender 

 and feeble, as if they had sprung from small seeds ; and the 

 buds of the same plant, wholly detached from the alburnum, 

 were incapable of retaining life. The quantity of alburnum 

 being increased, the growth of the buds increased in the 

 same proportion ; and when cuttings of a foot long, and 

 composed chiefly of two years old wood were employed, the 

 first growth of the buds was nearly as strong as it would have 

 been, if the cuttings had not been detached from the tree. 

 The quantity of alburnum in every young and thriving tree, 

 exclusive of the Palm tribe, is proportionate to the number 

 of its buds ; and if the number of these were, in any in- 

 stance, ascertained and compared with the quantity of albur- 

 nous matter in the branches and stem, and roots, it would be 

 found that Nature has always formed a reservoir sufficiently 

 extensive to supply every bud. But those of a cutting, 

 under the most favourable circumstances, must derive their 

 nutriment from a more limited and precarious source ; and 



