Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/121

MULBERRY. 93 called the Russian mulberry, is a hardy, rapid grower, well adapted to hedges, windbreaks, siiKiU timber, and ornamental planlinys. for which purpose it has been extensively planted in the Western United States. Moras muUicauli-i, by some considered a variety of Alorus alba, once grown extensively in the United States to feed silk-worms, is seldom seen now. In India the white nuilbcrry is treated as a bush, and cut down twice a year, the strip])ed shoots being thrown away. Its bark has lonf,' been used in China and Japan for making jiaper. It grows readily from cuttings. The root has a consider- able reputation as a vermifuge. The red mulberry (Mortis rubra), a native of North America, abounding from New York to Nebraska and south to the Gulf of Mexico, is the largest tree of the genus, attaining in the South a height of 70 feet and 3 feet in diameter. It endures severe frosts much better than the preceding, and is therefore preferred for cultivation in some parts of Europe. Its fruit is deep red, and almost as pleasant as the black mulberry. The wood is much more valuable, being fine-grained, strong, and adapted even for shipbuilding. Of each of these three species there are numerous named varieties wdiich are cultivated for their fruits, but tlie.v have not re<'eived the attention in the United States that they deserve. The Indian mulberry (Morus indica) has black fruit of a MULCH. BED MCLBEKRY (Moms rvbro). delicate flavor, and the leaves arc extensively used for feeding silk-worms in China, Coehin- China, and Hengal. Morus alba, Morus ci'ltidi- foUa, and Morus corylifolia, Peruvian species; ilorus Uvriijala, the species most eonnnon in the north of India; and Morus C(i.s7!)?(cri«na, probably a form of .l/on(,s- indica, a native of Cashmere, pro- duce pleasant fruit; Morus dulcis. a native of the north of India, is said to be superior in flavor to all others. The paper mulberry (BrottS.sonc<i'a papyrifera) , a native of India. .Tapnn, and islands in the Pacific, frequently planlcd for ornament in Amer- ica and Europe, differs from the true mulberry in having the female flowers collected in a globular mass. The fruit is oblong, dark-scarlet color, sweetish, but insipid. The tree is of moderate size, or, in cultivation, a bush to 12 feet high with leaves either simple or lobed. The islanders of the Pacific cultivate this species with great care and make a kind of clothing from the bark. For this purpo.se small branches about an inch in diameter are macerated in water. The epidermis is then removed by scraping. The yomig shoots, treated somewhat like rag pulj) in Europe, furnish much of the i);i])er used in ,I:ipan and the East. When the shoots are cut, new ones spring up very rapidly. Silk-worms eat the leaves. See Plate of JIulberrv and Liquidam- BAR, accompanying latter title. MULBERRY FAMILY. See Morace/E. MUL'CASTER, Kiciiard ( I530?-1G11) . An English schoolmaster, whose birthplace nuiy have been the old border tower of Brackenhill Castle on the river Line, or perhaps Carlisle. From Eton he passed to King's College, Cambridge, and thence to Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated JI.A. in 1556. When the Merchant Taylors' School was founded in London (1561), Mulcaster was appointed its first headmaster, a post which he held till 1586. Here he probably had the poet Spenser as a pupil. Ten years later he was elected high-master of Saint Paul's School. This office he retained to the great age of seventy- eight. He died April 15, 1611. In his own time Mulcaster gained wide repute as an efficient teacher, and in recent times much attention has been given to two books: Positions, wherein those primitive circumstances be examined, ivhich are necessarie for the training up of children, either for skill in their book or health in their bodie (1581); and the Elementarie, ichich enireateth chefelie of the right writing of our English tung (1582). Mulcaster strenuously advocated phys- ical training as a part of the education of boys, and implied that there should be grammar schools for girls. He taught his boys music and sing- ing, and permitted them to perform in masques and interludes before the Queen. Consult the re- print of the Positions, edited by Quick (London, 1888). MULCH (more correctly mulsh, probably from AS. molde, earth mold; ultimately connected with Goth, malan, Ir. melim, Lith. malti, Lat. molere, to grind, Eng. meal). A covering of loose mate- rial such as brush, leaves, manui-e, straw', or earth, maintained on the surface of the soil main- ly for the purpose of preventing evaporation, "which it accomplishes by breaking the conlinuity of the capillarity in the soil and thus retarding the rise of water to the surface. Stirring the surface soil, and thus maintaining what is termed a "soil mulch,' brings about the same result. The use of the mulch of vegetable matter is prob- ably not so conunon as formerly, but the soil mulch is increasing in favor, and in arid regions where agriculture is dependent up<ui irrigation and conservation of moisture is a matter of great importance. In addition to checking evajioration, mulches of vegetable matter are useful in pro- tecting the surface soil from puddling and wash- ing, keeping (he soil cool, preventing freezing, and retarding growth in the spring. JIulching is a valuable means of reclaiming washed or 'galled' lands, and for securing a growth on dry, bare