Cultivation of the Mulberry® 
17*3 
than would otherwise be necessary, which 
renders the worm peculiarly subject to dis¬ 
ease. The morns multicaulis, we are sorry 
to say, after all the eulogium and attention 
it has received, is illy adapted to producing 
silk. Like many of the Wall-street fancy 
stocks, it was a capital stock to speculate 
on, and like many of them, too, the amount 
of sales was no index of the value of the 
article. Like the red and black mulberry, 
the multicaulis will produce silk, but not of 
the best quality , and there is so much sap in 
it, that the worms are very liable to disease 
while feeding on it. We believe growth 
of these last kinds on a dry sterile soil will 
increase their value for feeding, and diminish 
the liability to disease in the worm. 
The best mode of raising the trees, is plac¬ 
ing them about 4 feet apart on one line, and 
d to 8 feet, according to the fertility of the 
soil, in the other direction. This will allow 
sufficient room for the top to develope itself, 
and absorb all the nourishment afforded by 
the roots. The ground should not be too rich 
or moist where the trees are planted ; a 
moderate quality of soil, of a dry gravelly 
nature, produces leaves of more substance and 
less liable to injure worms than ranker ones. 
They may be propagated from seedlings, but 
this, we have seen above, is not a certain way 
of producing good varieties, and should be 
resorted to only to supply existing deficien¬ 
cies, and perhaps occasionally to produce 
a new and valuable variety. The best mode 
of producing them is by cuttings made from 
a healthy, vigorous shoot, consisting of two 
buds to a stock, each of which is put into fine, 
mellow mould in a slanting direction, placing 
one bud deeper in the ground than the other, 
so that one almost invariably sprouts, and 
generally both. 
The mode of cutting leaves, may de¬ 
pend upon the fancy of the proprietor 
and the circumstances of the case. The 
feeding is performed with much greater fa¬ 
cility when the branches are cut off and laid 
on the shelf in the form of net-work, as the 
worms crawl over them in every direction : 
thus gaining more room, keeping out of the 
dirt, and allowing a free circulation of air. 
But the plant should be so trimmed as to 
allow a bushy top, and not be suffered to get 
up too high, beyond reach of the person 
gathering the leaves; although there is no 
inconvenience from this while the stocks are 
not too large to admit of bending down to be 
out.. Though we have seen no plants thickly 
cultivated that have attained sufficient diame¬ 
ter of trunk to enable us to form an opinion, 
our own impression is, that after the mam 
stalks have a circumference of 8 to 10 inches, 
it will be best to cut them down and train 
up fresh shoots. But experience will be the 
best guide in this matter. 
Kinds of manures and mode of treatment. 
—Mr. Whitmarsh, in a small work he wrote 
on this subject four years since, which he w r as 
kind enough to present us the other day, 
with the remark that his subsequent exten¬ 
sive experience had not induced him to vary 
from the practice therein described, says: 
Light land, planted with the mulberry will yield a 
large profit by the sale the leaves only, or by having 
them fed on shares. 
Every farm has more or less of black vegetable mat¬ 
ter collected in hollows and swamps, usually called 
muck, which is the best manure for the mulberry, causing 
it to flourish on very light and sandy soils. The muck 
should be thrown up in the fall to freeze and sweeten, 
as the gardeners say ; before planting the trees, put it 
into the furrows or holes, and the trees, once started in 
it, will continue to flourish for many years. No mul¬ 
berry tree should be manured with fresh barn manure ; 
it is rank poison to them, and is one great cause of their 
being winter-killed. The well rotted vegetable matter 
above mentioned is the best and most durable manure. 
It causes a thrifty natural growth. A little ashes or 
lime may improve it in some cases. Old woolen rags, 
bones, fish, and all animal substances are useful ; 
but the muck, which is within the reach of almost ev¬ 
ery one, is the cheapest, and on a large scale, the main 
thing to be depended on. 
Mulberries, when planted out, should be kept clear 
of grass and weeds, and the ground loose about them. 
They delight in a mellow soil, and when once well es¬ 
tablished in a healthy state, will continue to improve 
for twenty-five years, if well used. We are told by 
some, that “ the more you pick them, the faster they 
will grow,” the fallacy of which must appear to every 
one who will for a moment consider the nature of the 
operation of stripping a tree of its foliage once or more 
every season. 
We are also told that several crops may be fed from 
tlie^ame trees in a season ;—this you may do if you do 
not regard the durability of the tree. Once a year is 
quite often enough to strip them of leaves or branches. 
Several crops of worms may be fed in a season, but not 
from the same trees. Trees enough should be provided 
to make a second picking unnecessary. We have land 
in abundance; and the same building may accommo¬ 
date a succession of crops fed from a succession of 
acres. 
I would not have my readers place implicit confi¬ 
dence in what I say on this subject, as I may be mis¬ 
taken. But let any one who doubts it try the experi¬ 
ment ;—set apart a few trees, no matter of what sort, 
and pluck the leaves as many times in a season as you 
please ; it is possible that the leaves may diminish in 
size and quantity by the operation, and it is also possi¬ 
ble, that after a year or two, there will be no leaves at 
all, that the trees will perish in summer or winter— 
most likely the latter. It should be considered that 
wiiat is called a hardy tree is not merely one that will 
endure cold winters, but the clipping, picking, and hard 
usage which they will be likely to receive according to 
our mode of treatment, when they come to be fed from. 
In making a plantation for the culture of silk, we 
must suppose it, of course, to be a permanent one, 
which shall be a continued source of profit, the profit 
