MULBERRY TREE. 



257 



gence of Monsieur Colbert, who so successfully revived 

 it," continues he, " that it is prodigious to consider what 

 an happy progress they have made in it ; to our shame 

 be it spoken, who have no other discouragements what- 

 ever but our sloth and want of industry ; since wherever 

 these trees will grow and prosper, there the silk-worms 

 will do so also. It is demonstrable that Mulberries, in 

 four or five years, may be made to spread all over this 

 land, and when the indigent and young daughters in 

 proud families are as wilhng to gain three or four shil- 

 Hngs a day for gathering silk, and busying themselves in 

 this sweet and easy employment, as some do to get four- 

 pence a day for hard work at hemp, flax, and wool, the 

 reputation of Mulberries will spread in England and our 

 plantations 



The Paper Mulberry, Morus Papyri/era^ is a native 

 of China, Japan, and the South Sea islands ; it was cul- 

 tivated by Hugh, Duke of Northumberland, about the 

 middle of the eighteenth century. 



This tree takes its specific name from the use made of 

 the bark by the Japanese. In December, after the 

 leaves have fallen, they cut down the young shoots; 

 these being divided into rods three feet in length, are 

 gathered into bundles to be boiled ; they are placed erect 

 and close in a large copper, properly closed; and the 

 boiling is continued till the separation of the bark shows 

 the naked wood ; after which, by a longitudinal incision, the 

 bark is stripped off and dried, the wood being rejected. 



* This amiable writer speaks with great disapprobation of the 

 education of young women in his time.— See Syh-a^, Hunter's ed. 

 vol. ii. p. .53. 



s 



