THE MULBERRY 
35 
deep in a shady border late in the year, will 
root slowly, or more quickly and surely if put 
in gentle heat under glass. Root-cuttings will 
also prosper, but suckers which are occasion- 
ally thrown up are commonly sterile and fit 
for grafting only. Large branches many feet 
in length will also root if planted deeply in 
the autumn and firmly staked. Instances have 
occurred in which pieces of the main trunk 
and branches of an old tree sawn into lengths 
for fuel, have rooted as an avenue of young 
trees when planted in good moist soil. The 
base of an old tree placed in the yard of an 
inn as a mounting-block, surprised its owner 
by taking a new lease of life and growing 
rapidly into a stout young tree. It frequently 
happens — as with the old tree at Syon — that 
when thrown down by wind or snow, a tree 
starts afresh in the same way, making new 
roots and stems while the old trunk moulders 
away. For choice varieties of the White and 
Black Mulberry, budding and grafting are 
common means of increase, using seedling 
plants of the hardy Russian Mulberry [M. 
alba tatarica) as a stock, and retarded buds as 
scions. The seedlings are grown until nearly 
large enough, and are then cut to the ground 
to force tall straight shoots from the base fit 
for working as standards. Cuttings of M. 
multkaulis or any other kinds for grafting, 
should also be treated in this way. Good ever- 
bearing kinds may be budded or grafted upon 
these, budding as the sap rises in spring, and 
grafting later in the season. Some growers pot 
a quantity of stocks and graft under glass 
during the winter, employing root or crown 
grafts according to circumstance. 
The White Mulberry [Moms 
Kinds. alba). — Doubt exists as to the 
source of this tree, and the diffi- 
culty is increased by the fact that nearly thirty 
forms are referred to this species. It is supposed 
to have come from the far East, where forms 
of it have been grown for thousands of years 
to produce silk, for which its finer-leaved vari- 
eties are specially adapted. Though common 
and partly naturalised in the south of Europe, 
it is less frequent with us, being more tender 
and averse to a wet soil and climate than the 
Black Mulberry. Though faster in growth 
and larger in size, it is less enduring than that 
kind, with more erect shoots and a smoother 
and lighter coloured bark. The leaves are 
mostly smaller, smoother, moredeeply toothed, 
and more succulent, containing much glutin- 
ous matter which gives tenacity and substance 
to the thread of the worms. In Europe the 
fruit of this tree is of little account, but in the 
United States some of the best fruiting varie- 
ties have been raised from Morus alba and the 
distinction between the white and black kinds 
nearly lost as regards the colour of their fruits, 
which vary from yellowish-white specked 
more or less with black to rosy forms and 
others almost as dark as any forms of nigra. 
The Mexican Mulberry [M.celtidifolia). — 
A much smaller tree than the American Mul- 
berry, rarely exceeding 25 feet in height, 
j with smaller and smoother leaves and small 
I black fruit, which ripens early and is very 
I sour. 
The Japanese Mulberry [M. japonica). — 
A new kind from N. China, Korea, and Japan, 
of stronger growth than the White Mulberry, 
though some see in it only a form of that most 
variable species. The leaves are large and 
drawn out to a long point, thin in texture, 
dull green, coarsely toothed, and deeply lobed 
to one side upon the young shoots, as in the 
American Mulberry. The fruit is bluntly ob- 
long and red. Young trees are at first some- 
what tender, but grow so strongly when estab- 
lished that the plant is being tried as a stock 
in the United States. 
The Chinese Mulberry [M.multicaulis). — 
The leaves of this kind are valued next to those 
of the White Mulberry for silk-culture, indeed 
it is grown everywhere in China for this pur- 
pose and is sometimes preferred elsewhere for 
its great vitality and abundant leafage, which 
also comes a little earlier. It is a strong grower, 
throwing many stout erect shoots from its 
spreading crown, thickly covered with large 
long-pointed leaves which are very seldom 
lobed, and with sweet blackfruit of fair quality. 
When first introduced into America it was so 
exploited that it became the object of foolish 
speculation, but is now little grown save as a 
stock. The famous Downing Mulberry is said 
to be a form of this species, but the Americans 
themselves are not clear upon the point. 
The Black Mulberry [M. nigra). — Our 
