Although there are several varieties of this excellent yet much-neglected fruit, the only one, so far as we are aware, which is in general cultivation in Britain, is the Morus nigra or black Mulberry. It is very easy of propagation and after-management, although in certain circumstances it has proved itself to be very shy in bearing until the tree had attained some considerable age.

The Mulberry may be propagated either from seed, by layers, suckers, or by cuttings. Budding, grafting, and inarching are sometimes adopted, but as there are no good or permanent results to be obtained thereby, there is no need to refer further to these modes of propagation. When young trees are to be raised from seed, the fruit should be rubbed between the finger and thumb in a basin of water until the seed is separated from the pulp. After having been thoroughly washed it must be well dried, and afterwards laid past in a cool dry situation till spring. The seed may be sown either indoors in heat or out of doors in a sheltered situation about the end of April. The former method we consider the best, as by this means the plants are much stronger and more healthy, and if well managed will make better trees in a much shorter space of time. The end of February or beginning of March the seed may be sown in pots in nice rich soil of a lightish nature, having a good proportion of leaf-mould, and be placed for a few weeks in an early vinery or gentle hot-bed. As soon as the young plants have reached the height of an inch or so, they ought to be gradually hardened off, so that by the time they are 3 or 4 inches in height they will be fit for planting in nursery-lines - say a foot between the lines, and 3 or 4 inches in the line.

During the first winter they will be all the better for a slight covering to protect them from frost. In spring they may be cut back to a few eyes, after which the training will depend entirely upon the taste and form of tree the cultivator may desire.

The propagation of the Mulberry by layers is a very simple process, and the one generally practised by nurserymen, as by this means larger trees can be obtained in a given time than by any other. This operation may be performed almost any time from October till March, and may be accomplished according to the following method: If suitable branches can be obtained near the ground, all that is necessary is to cut off a piece of the bark of the branch, or, what is perhaps better, make a ring from which the bark is to be taken, after which the branch may be bent down and securely fixed into a nice, light, and moderately-rich soil. If the branch is not more than three years of age, it should be ready for separation from the parent tree in a year afterwards. If the branch is older than this, then the longer will be the time before this can be done. After having been cut off from the tree it ought to be well cared for, and nursed for a year or two, at the end of which time it may be placed into its permanent quarters, and should begin to bear when six or seven years of age.

As every one knows what a sucker is, suffice it to say that when detached from the tree it must be planted as already recommended for layers, and well attended to for a year or two.

Cuttings are generally made from the young wood, having a heel of two-year-old wood attached. Cuttings of older wood will, however, root well enough, but they require longer time to accomplish it. Cuttings make more symmetrical and finer trees than layers, and come into bearing much about the same age; but a tree raised from a cutting will not be more than half the size at six years of age of one from a layer. The cuttings, having been made with a nice sharp knife, may be put into small pots singly, the pot being filled with light rich soil having a good admixture of river or other sand; and, if plunged in a gentle hot-bed, will make nice little plants the first season. Two or three buds at most are enough to leave upon each cutting; and after they have made a start the strongest one may remain, and the others be removed. Cuttings made as above directed, and planted in lines in autumn, will also make good plants in the course of the following season. It is said that cuttings made of wood of several years' growth will also root readily; so that if this be the case, much time and labour might be avoided by adopting this method.

The Mulberry will grow in any good garden-soil, but succeeds best in a good rich loam of a lightish texture. It will also be found to succeed best where there is a considerable amount of moisture and a pretty heavy rainfall; so that the cultivator need not be over-particular regarding drainage, if so be that he makes sure that the water does not remain in the soil so as to make it sodden or sour.

With regard to the situation most suitable for the Mulberry, it is only necessary to say that that will depend entirely upon circumstances. In the warmer and more southern counties of England it does very well as an orchard standard, but, as a rule, in the more northern counties it requires a wall; while in Scotland it is absolutely necessary not only to place it on a wall, but also to give it a southern exposure if the fruit is wanted in perfection. In some cases it is also desirable to assist the ripening of the wood with a little fire-heat, as we find that, placed in similar circumstances with the Peach, it requires much the same position, and the same treatment with regard to the ripening of the wood and the buds. Here, in one of the worst counties of Scotland, we have it planted both as a standard and as a wall-tree, and we only can get first-class fruit by assisting, not only the ripening of the wood, but also the fruit itself. For this purpose we apply a little fire-beat about the beginning of September when the fruit begins to colour; and from that time till the middle, and sometimes the end, of October, we have a regular supply of first - rate fruit.

It is very different, however, with the standard; for although it yearly produces a regular crop of fruit, these invariably do not attain to more than half-size, are of a reddish-pink colour, as sour as vinegar, and drop off. Those, therefore, who wish to grow the Mulberry to perfection, must be guided by circumstances with regard to the position it is to occupy.

The next thing for consideration is the mode of training to be adopted. Of course if it is to be a standard, all that will be necessary is to form a leader, which, after it has attained the desired height, may be cut to encourage the formation of side-branches, to make the tree. After the tree has begun to take a form, all that will be necessary will be to regulate the branches to prevent overcrowding - no stopping or pinching of any sort being required. In the case of a tree for the wall, the horizontal mode of training is the best and most suitable. Like the Peach, it produces fruit upon the wood of the former year, and, like the Apple and Pear, upon spurs formed upon the older wood. In cutting the shoots along the main branches at the pruning season, 2 or 3 inches of wood may be left the first season, which, in the course of a few years, will form a regular fruit - bearing spur. This may appear to some a rather rough-and-ready way of obtaining a spur, but we find that, if a short spur only is left, there are small chances of it soon producing flower - buds.

As already hinted, the leader should in no case be cut back, more especially in an old abundant - bearing tree, as very often the greater part of the buds upon the shoot may prove to be flower-buds.

In a former part of this paper we have said that the Mulberry often proves very obstinate in producing fruit until such time as it has arrived at a certain stage of its existence. This has been attributed to various causes, amongst others to over-luxuriance. Whether or not this be the primary cause we cannot tell, but the more immediate cause of it is the production of male flowers and the total want of female ones. The Mulberry being monoecious - that is, producing the male and female on the same tree, yet in different flowers - it is very obvious that if only the one sex be produced the tree will be barren. Those whose botanical knowledge is not capable of distinguishing the sexes in the flower, can easily understand whether or not this be the case by attending to the following: If at the flowering-season all the flowers drop, and none remain to swell into fruit, then the cause is the want of female blossoms; if on the other hand, a portion of them remain till half swollen, and then drop, the probability is that the cause is something else. It may either be the want of sunshine, the want of moisture, or a superabundance of it at the root.

The cure for the first is the application of fire - heat; of the second, attending to the watering and mulching of the roots in a dry season; and of the third, to ascertain whether the drains be in good working order, and that there be not a superabundance of stagnant water lodging about the roots.

Although not sure, yet we are inclined to think that the cause of the production of male flowers only is in a great measure traceable to over-luxuriance; for it is found that root - pruning, ringing the trunk or branches, and suchlike, have induced, in a remarkable degree, the early fruitfulness of the tree. We have not practised either of these plans, for we find that fruitfulness is readily produced by the twisting and bending of the branches. The old tree on the wall here, covering, as it does, some 700 or 800 square feet, has never, so far as I am aware, been subjected to either of the above processes, yet my predecessor informs me that it has been an abundant bearer from its earliest years. There is not one inch of all the space occupied by it which is not covered with fruit-bearing spurs, and this state of things was induced by the twisting and bending process already referred to. In winter, no doubt, the tree does not present such a pretty appearance as if beautifully trained; but when summer comes, and the verdant tapestry of green adorns the red brick wall, what matters it, as the eye of the most searching could not tell how it is trained? and then when autumn comes, with its groaning load of luscious sweet, is it not better that the twisting has been done in preference to the possession of a barren yet well-trained tree? Care, however, must be taken not to entirely destroy the branch.

All that is necessary is to gently twist and slightly injure, without entirely destroying, the cellular tissue, after which the branch may be trained snake-like fashion - this is by an alternate elevation and depression without entirely destroying the principles of horizontal training. I have often thought that if the roots were confined into a very limited space, something like the manner recommended for the Fig, it might prove of much benefit to the tree, by inducing an early and constant fruitfulness. It would, at all events, be worthy of trial, as if it did no good, it certainly would do no harm. The pruning of the Mulberry should not be done till well over in spring, as there is sometimes a difficulty in distinguishing the fruit from the flower-buds until they have begun to develop themselves.

So far as we are aware, red-spider is the only insect which ever attacks the Mulberry, and this only in very rare circumstances; and as we have so often already spoken of its cause and cure, there is no need to repeat here what has been repeatedly said before. With regard to diseases, the Mulberry is entirely exempt from these in Britain. James M'Millan.

(To be continued).