1346

ARBORETUM AND FIIUTICETUM.

PART III.

supposed death of his mistress, killed himself with his own sword, he fellunder one of these trees ; and when Thisbe , returning and finding him dead,stabbed herself also, their blood flowing over the roots of the tree, wasabsorbed by them, and gave its colour to the fruit.

* Dark in the rising tide the berries grew,

And, white no longer, took a sable hue jBut brighter crimson, springing from the root,'

Shot through the black, and purpled o’er the fruit.”

Cowley describes the black mulberry as being used, in his time, both for itsfruit and leaves : —

“ But cautiously the mulberry did move,

And first the temper of the skies would prove,

What sign the sun was in, and if she mightGive credit yet to Winter’s seeming flight:

She dares not venture on his first retreat,

Nor trusts her fruit and leaves to doubtful heat;

Her ready sap within her bark confines,

Till she of settled warmth has certain signs;

Then, making rich amends for the delay,

With sudden haste, she dons her green array:

In two short months, her purple fruit appears,

And of two lovers slain the tincture wears.

Her fruit is rich, but she doth leaves produceOf far«surpassing worth and noble use.”

Cowley on Plants, book v,

The destruction of Shakspeare’s mulberry tree in 1750, by its then pro-prietor, Mr. Gastrell, gave rise to several songs, and other pieces of poetry;but they rather relate to the individual tree than to the species.

Soil, Situation, Propagation, and Culture. The black mulberry will grow inalmost any soil or situation that is tolerably dry, and in any climate not muchcolder than that of London. In Britain , north of York, it requires a wall,except in very favourable situations. It is very easily propagated by trun-cheons or pieces of branches, 8 ft. or 9 ft. in length, and of any thickness, beingplanted half their depth in tolerably good soil; when they will bear fruit the'fol-lowing year. (See Gard. Mag., vol. iii. p. 217., and vol. v. p, 63.) Every partof the root, trunk, boughs, and branches may be turned into plants by separa-tion ; the small shoots, or spray, and the small roots, being made intocuttings, the larger shoots into stakes, the arms into truncheons, and thetrunk, stool, and roots being cut into fragments, leaving a portion of the barkon each. (Ibid., vol. iv. p. 152.) It is very seldom, if ever, now propagated byseeds, which rarely ripen in Britain . The mulberry, from its slowness inputting out its leaves, being rarely injured by spring frosts, and its leaves beingnever devoured by any insect, except the silkworm, and never attacked bymildew, very seldom fails to bear a good crop of fruit. This fruit, however,though excellent and extremely wholesome, does not keep, and is so far trou-blesome, that it is only good when it is just quite ripe, and is best when it issuffered to fall from the tree itself. For this reason, mulberry trees are gene-rally planted on a lawn or grass-plot, to prevent the fruit that falls from beinginjured by the dirt or gravel. In a paper by J. Williams, Esq., of Pitmaston,published in the Horticultural Transactions for 181.3, this practice is, however,censured. “ The standard mulberry,” says Mr. Williams, “ receives great in-jury by being planted on grass-plots with the view of preserving the fruit whenit falls spontaneously. No tree, perhaps, receives more benefit from the spadeand the dunghill than the mulberry ; it ought therefore to be frequently dugabout the roots, and occasionally assisted with manure. The ground under thetree should be kept free from weeds throughout the summer, particularly whenthe fruit is ripening, as the reflected light and heat from the bare surface of thesoil is thus increased; more especially if the end branches are kept pruned,so as not to bow over too near to, and shade, the ground. The fruit is alsovery fine if the tree is trained as an espalier, within the reflection of a southwall, or other building. If a wooden trellis were constructed, with the sameinclination as the roof of a forcing-house, fronting the south, and raised about