223 THE KITCHEN-GARDEN, [chap. yii. 
the worms. Lettuce leaves are indeed better 
than any other food for silk-worms reared in 
England. The fruit of the red mulberry is 
eatable, but not very good; and its leaves 
are injurious to silkworms. 
The black mulberry is said to be a native 
of Persia; but if so it must have been brought 
to Europe at a very early period, as it was 
common in Italy when ancient Rome was at 
her zenith. It appears to have been intro¬ 
duced into England long before 1573, as 
some old trees, still in existence, are said to 
have been of considerable size in that year. 
The mulberry has several peculiarities in its 
habits, which distinguish it from most other 
trees. The most striking of these is that it 
may be propagated by truncheons: that is, 
if a large limb of a tree, as thick as a man’s 
arm or thicker, be cut off, and stuck into the 
ground, it will grow without any further 
trouble being taken with it; and probably 
the next year, or the year after, it will bear 
abundance of fruit. This I believe is the 
case with no other tree except the olive. 
The mulberry also is later than any other 
tree in coming into leaf; but when it does 
