Page:EB1911 - Volume 18.djvu/991

 falls. The tree succeeds best in a rich, deep, and somewhat moist loam, but grows well in any good garden ground. It is usually propagated either by cuttings or layers, which latter, if made from the older branches of the tree, come sooner into bearing. Cuttings planted in the spring should consist of well-ripened shoots of the preceding year, with a joint of two-year-old wood at their base, or if planted in autumn should have the shoots well matured, and furnished with a heel of two-year-old wood. The branches and even stout limbs are sometimes employed as cuttings instead of the younger shoots, especially when the object is to obtain a bearing tree quickly. The branch should be planted deeply in autumn in good soil, and if necessary supported in an upright position by a stake. The most common mode of propagation, however, is by layering the young branches. The mulberry may be grown in pots, and gently forwarded in an orchard house, and under these conditions the fruit acquires a richness of flavour unknown in the fruit ripened out of doors. If cultivated in this way it requires abundance of water while the fruit is swelling, and also frequent dressings of artificial fertilizers.

The white mulberry (M. alba), so called from its nearly white fruit, is the one mainly employed in sericulture. It is a native of China and has been cultivated from the earliest times in Asia and since the 12th century in Europe, especially in the Mediterranean region. There are many varieties, among which the Philippine mulberry (var. multicaulis) is perhaps most highly esteemed. The Indian species, M. indica (not to be confounded with Morinda citrifolia, a rubiaceous tree, sometimes also called Indian mulberry), is also cultivated for the same purpose.

M. rubra, the North American red mulberry, is the largest of the genus, often reaching a height of 70 ft. It produces dark red berries much inferior in flavour, however, to those of M. nigra.

Broussonetia papyrifera, a member of a closely allied genus, is the paper mulberry, a native of Burma, China and Polynesia, and widely cultivated in Japan, where the bark is used for paper-making. The Tapa-cloth of the South Sea Islands is also made from it. The plant is a shrub or small tree with large mulberry-like lobed or entire hairy leaves. Several forms are cultivated, differing chiefly in the shape of the leaves.  MULDE, a river of Germany, a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is formed by the confluence, just below Kolditz, of the Zwickauer Mulde, which rising in the Vogtland of Saxony passes Zwickau, Glauchau and Rochlitz, and the Freiberger Mulde, which, rising in the Bohemian Erzgebirge, touches

Freiberg, Döbeln and Leisnig. The united river flows north to Grimma and thence past Wurzen, Eilenburg and Bitterfeld to Dessau, where it joins the Elbe. The total length of the united river is 75 m.  MULE (Lat. mulus), term not unfrequently applied to the produce of any two creatures of different species, and synonymous with hybrid, but in its ordinary acceptation employed to designate the offspring or “cross” between the equine and asinine species. There are two kinds of mule—the Mule proper (Equus asinus, var. ; Mulus; Fr. Mulet or Grand mulet; Ger. Grosser Maulesel&#8202;), which is the hybrid produce of a male ass with a mare, and the Hinny (Equus asinus, var. ; Hinnus; Fr. Bardot or Petit mulet; Ger. Kleiner Maulesel&#8202;), the offspring of the stallion and female ass. The mule is the more valuable of the two, and to its production the attention of breeders is entirely directed.

In its short thick head, long ears, thin limbs, small narrow hoofs, short mane, absence of chestnuts (horny growths) inside the hocks, and tail destitute of hair at the root the mule is asinine; while in height and body, shape of neck and croup, uniformity of coat, and in teeth it is equine. It has the voice neither of the ass nor of the horse, but emits a feeble hoarse noise. The most common colour of the mule is a brown or bay-brown—bay, or bright bay, or piebald being rare; a chestnut tint is sometimes noticed. It possesses the sobriety, patience, endurance and sure-footedness of the ass, and the vigour, strength and courage of the horse. As a beast of burden it is preferable to the horse, being less impatient under the pressure of heavy weights, while the skin being harder and less sensitive renders it more capable of resisting sun and rain.

The mule has been in use from early times; the inhabitants of Mysia and Paphlagonia are said to have been the first breeders. With the Greeks and Romans, the latter especially, the mule was valued, being employed to draw carriages and carry loads. In modern times it has been largely used for military transport.

The principal mule countries in Europe are the south of France, Spain, Portugal and Italy, where they are used for pack and draught. The French mules are most numerous on the borders of the Pyrenees, in Gascony, and in Poitou. In Spain mules are used in the Catalan provinces, in the mountainous districts of Andalusia, and in the province of Alicante. Good draught-mules are bred in La Mancha and in the districts on the slopes of the Pyrenees, where they are employed to carry loads. But in Spain, Italy, and some other countries they are also extensively used in carriages; in Spain particularly, where large, fine mules are bred for this purpose, a pair of these animals will often cost more than a pair of horses. The mules of Asia Minor, Syria, Cyprus, Egypt and Algeria, as well as those of the district between the Tigris and the Persian frontier and in North China, are good. In the Punjab provinces of British India many excellent mules are bred, breeding being promoted by the government. Good mules are reared in North and South America, the principal districts for breeding them in the United States being Texas, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas and Kentucky. The Kentucky mules are well shaped and showy, being derived from nearly thoroughbred mares known as Kentucky trotters, while those reared in Missouri are hardy. The Mexican mule, bred by a male ass out of a mustang mare, is also a hardy, strong and useful animal.

France is perhaps the most important mule-raising country in Europe, four centres being more particularly devoted to this kind of industry: Poitou, the mountainous districts of central France, the Pyrenees and Dauphiné. The mules of these different parts differ chiefly in height; those of Poitou are large, powerful, and long in the body, and are mainly exported to the departments of Languedoc and Provence, as well as to Spain, Italy and America; those of Dauphiné are of medium height, with a short, thick body; while those of the centre and the Pyrenees are lighter and smaller, but more active.

Mule-breeding in Poitou is supposed to date from the time of Philip V. of Spain, when the particular breeds of horses and