M;iRCH.] THE NURSERY. 279 
Curse them! (exclaims the peevish planter,) I shall never live to 
cork a bottle with them. Have patience, good sir, you have no 
objection to throw by a few dollars in an iron chest for posterity, 
never to come in contact with the light of the sun during your 
existence, and which will always be depreciating in value as the 
circulation of paper currency increases, and from several other cir- 
cumstances; a few of which, if laid out on planting cork, trees, 
would be rapidly accumulating wealth for your children, and ren- 
dering a real service to your country; besides, every day you 
walked out you would have the pleasure of beholding your little 
family of trees prospering in health and beauty, humbling their 
boughs before you, and in their silent language returning you 
grateful thanks for your fostering care, and promising to reward 
your offspring for the friendly protection which you afforded them 
in their minor days. 
Tanner^s Sumach. 
The Rhus coriaria, or elm-leaved sumack, is a plant which should 
be introduced and cultivated, particularly in the southern states, 
where it will prosper in great perfection. It grows naturally in 
Italy, Spain, the south of France, the Levant, about Aleppo, Rama, 
and near Algiers, in Africa. The branches are used instead of 
oak bark for tanning leather; but the great and particular necessity 
of its introduction into the United States is, that without it our 
tanners, who are both numerous and industrious, cannot manufac- 
ture what is called Turkey or Morocco leather in good perfection; 
for it is with this plant exclusively that that valuable article is 
tanned in the eastern world; and a substitute for it has not yet 
been discovered in America. 
It has a strong woody stem, divided into many irregular branches, 
and rises to the height of eight or ten feet or more; the bark is 
hairy, and of an herbaceous brown colour when young. The leaves 
are composed of seven or eight pair of leaflets, terminated by an 
odd one: these leaflets are about two inches long, and half an inch 
wide in the middle, and are of a yellowish green colour. The 
flowers grow in loose pannicles at the ends of the branches, each 
pannicle being composed of several thick spikes of flowers sitting 
close to the foot-stalks: they are of a whitish herbaceous colour, and 
appear in June and July, and are followed by numerous roundish 
compressed seeds. - 
It may easily be propagated by seed, which, if sown soon after 
being ripe, or preserved in sand or earth till spring, will grow freely 
the first year; but if kept dry till spring, they do not generally 
vegetate till the next season. It can also be propagated by suckers, 
which it produces pretty freely, or by layers. It is tolerably hardy, 
and will thrive in warm exposures in the miildle states. 
Mulberry Trees and Silk Worms. 
The Morns alba, or white mulberry, is a native of China, Cochin- 
China and Japan, and according to Gmelin, of Persia. It grows 
