54 
duction of vegetation during the next season. There are two saps 
continually ascending and descending. The ascending saps pass 
through the wood and give nutriment to the branches and leaves, 
and the descending ones pass through the skin to the roots, and 
produce new wood from season to season as the tree grows older. 
The preservation of the leaves is not so necessary to the existence of 
a tree as its roots, as from these it derives its principal support and 
nourishment ; it will therefore be galhercd from these remarks, that 
it is impossible to propagate mulberry trees for silk culture by 
cuttings, but that they must bo raised naturally from seeds in order 
that perfect roots may be formed for the sustenance of the tree in the 
future periods of its existence, and when it shall be necessary to 
gather its leaves for the education of the precious worm. As the 
grand object of the cultivation of the mulberry tree is to fit it for 
the production of leaves in the least possible time, nothing must be 
neglected by its cultivator to attain that object, not so much by the 
expenditure of a large amount of capital as an assiduous study of the 
necessities of the plant, as no tree in the world yields so large a 
return to its propagator as this one. The good quality of 
the ground is certainly of great importance to the . prosperity 
of the tree ; but the judicious pruning and training of its 
branches is of far greater moment, and the excuse of the bad 
cultivator as to the indifferent quality of the soil only tends to 
betray his ignorance of the art of cultivating the mulberry. The 
time for pruning and training the branches greatly depends on 
the climate and the situation in which the trees are placed, F rom 
great experience in the cultivation of the mulberry, I am convinced 
that the establishment of plantations of these trees will yield large 
returns, and be of great benefit not only to the agriculturist but to 
the whole community. The demand for silk produced from the 
worms fed upon the leaves of the mulberry is always increasing, and I 
cannot foresee any but the most beneficial results in its general 
adoption in this country. In the composition of the leaves of the 
mulberry tree there are five different substances, viz., solid or 
fibrous, colouring matter, water, and saccharine and resinous or silky 
matters. The three first substances are not absolutely necessary for 
the life of the silk-worm. The saccharine matter nourishes .and aids 
in the formation of the animal, and the resinous matter imbibed by 
the worm from the leaves is accumulated and purified by its peculiar 
organisation, and collected in the two reservoirs of the worm, to be 
discharged afterwards through its mouth in the form of silk, The 
yield of silk will be found in accordance with the presence of more 
or less of the saccharine and resinous matters in the leaves on which 
the worm is fed. For instance, the silk produced by the leaves of 
the black mulberry, which are hard, rough and tenacious, and which 
was the principal food of worms in the warm countries of Europe, 
(such as Greece, Spain, Sicily, Calabria, &c.,) is abundant, the thread 
strong, but veiy coarse. The worms fed on leaves of the white 
