118 On the Propagation of the Mulberry Tree. 



The mould I employed was the alluvial and somewhat 

 sandy loam of a meadow, which was sparingly supplied with 

 water; and the plants, till they had become sufficiently 

 rooted, were shaded during bright weather. 



The leaves, and whole habit of the plants thus obtained, 

 are similar to those of the bearing branches from which the 

 cuttings are taken; and I do not entertain a shadow of 

 doubt but that, if retained under glass, even without arti- 

 ficial heat, they will produce fruit at three years old. If 

 trained to a wall, or even as standards, I am also confident 

 that they would bear fruit at a very early period ; but in 

 the latter situation I have not an opportunity of trying 

 them, as the Mulberry tree, as standard, survives with dif- 

 ficulty in the climate of this place, and does not ripen its 

 fruit at all, except in very favourable seasons, and even in 

 such very imperfectly. 



The preceding experiments were confined to the Mulberry 

 tree, which is not amongst the most difficult to be propagated 

 by cuttings; but I imagine that similar means might be 

 successfully applied in propagating many other species of 

 trees ; for in a former trial to attain plants from cuttings of 

 the bearing branches of the Mulberry tree, which were taken 

 off in the spring, and planted in a hot-bed, I did not succeed 

 at all : and as 1 have never seen a single plant in the public 

 nurseries, which had been propagated from a bearing branch, 

 I imagine that others have had as ill success as myself* It 

 is, I think, not improbable, that the pressure of the lower 



* Plants of this fruit tree, which have been propagated from bearing branches, 

 have entire heart-shaped leaves ; but those obtained from suckers, which have 

 sprung from roots, present deeply divided, or half-winged leaves. 



