THE POSSIBLE RANGE OF THE MULBERRY IN THE UNITED STATES
As with any other little-used crop, the exact range over which the mulberry can eventually spread is today unknown. For example: Kansas seems to have some mulberry territory and some that is not mulberry territory.[1] But there is every reason to expect that breeding can extend this crop.
There is little doubt that at least a million square miles of the United States, and in the most populated parts of the country, are now capable of producing crops of fruit from the everbearing strains of this remarkable tree. Fortunately two of the commoner varieties, the Downing and the New American, originated in New York.[2]
STABLE PRICE AND EASY EXPERIMENT
The price stability of the mulberry should be emphasized in a country where so many commodities find markets that are
- ↑ State Forester Albert C. Dickens makes the following interesting observations in Kansas Bulletin 165, pp. 324-26. It should be remembered that as a forester he naturally is dealing primarily with wood trees rather than fruit trees, and that therefore his fruit statements might tend to be weak rather than strong.
"The success of the Russian mulberry has been quite varied. In northern Kansas it has been injured very frequently in severe winters.
In the southern counties of the state Russian mulberry seems much less liable to winter injury. At the fair grounds at Anthony, Kansas, the rate of growth has been especially good, trees set four years ago having attained a height of fourteen feet and a diameter of four inches.
"The fruit is not of high quality, but is often used when other fruits are scarce; and as it ripens with the cherries and raspberries, it seems to attract many birds from the more valuable fruits, and it is frequently planted in the windbreaks about fruit plantations with this end in view. The fruiting season lasts a month or more. The need of some careful selection and breeding of this species is clearly indicated. The species is quite readily grown from cuttings and the better individuals may be propagated and the uncertainty which attends the planting of seedlings be avoided."
- ↑ "With chickens, ducks, birds, and pigs clamoring for the fruit, the everbearing mulberry is certainly a candidate for experiment in your poultry yard or pig lot; but if you live north of Mason and Dixon's line, make some investigation as to the hardiness of varieties that are offered you." ("A Georgia Tree Farmer," J. Russell Smith, The Country Gentleman, December 4, 1915, p. 1822.)
