several well-known species. No doubt there may be other species growing
in wild countries, and yet unknown or undescribed by botanists; and this
remark applies as well to other trees, for every day we hear of new
varieties being discovered by enterprising explorers.

"First, then, comes the white mulberry (_Morus alia_). It is the most
important species yet known. This you will readily admit when I tell
you that from it comes all our silk--spun out of it by the silkworm
(_Bombyx mori_). It is called white mulberry on account of the colour
of its fruit, which, however, is not always white, but sometimes of a
purple or black colour. Now it would be difficult to give an exact
description of a white mulberry-tree; for, like the apple and pear
trees, there are many varieties of it produced from the same seeds, and
also by difference of soil and climate. It is a small tree, however,
rarely growing over forty feet high, with thick leaves and numerous
branches. The leaves are the most important part of it--for it is upon
these the silkworms feed, spinning their fine threads out of the milky
juice, which in its properties resembles the juice of the caoutchouc
tree. It is true that the silkworm will feed upon the other species of
mulberries, and also upon slippery elms, figs, lettuce, beets, endive,
and many kinds of leaves besides; but the silk made from all these is of
an inferior quality; and even the varieties of the white mulberry itself
produce different qualities of this beautiful material.

"This tree has other uses. Its wood is compact and heavy, weighing
forty-four pounds to the cubic foot. In France it is much used in
turnery; and wine-casks are made from it, as it gives to white wines an
agreeable flavour of violets. Vine-props and fences are made from its
branches; and out of its bark--by a process which I have not time to
describe--a cloth can be manufactured almost as fine as silk itself.
The fruit of the white mulberry--where it grows in warm climates--is
very good to eat, and makes an excellent syrup.

"The white mulberry, it is supposed, first came from China, where it is
still found growing wild; and the Chinese first cultivated it for
feeding silkworms as early as 2700 years before the Christian era. The
tree is now found in every civilised country, growing either as an
ornament of the shrubbery, or for the manufacture of silk.

"The next species is the black mulberry (_Morus nigra_), so called