Professor Charles S. Sargent says that no other tree furnishes employment, directly and indirectly, to so large a number of the human race, or has been so carefully studied from the cultural point of view, and no other tree has given rise to such a voluminous literature as the white mulberry. [Illustration: WHITE MULBERRY _Morus alba_ Page 124 ] It was introduced here from China about 1830, and it has been widely cultivated and naturalized throughout the United States. The Chinese were the first to cultivate the mulberry for feeding silkworms, and they are said to have discovered the art of making silk 2700 years B. C. According to Loudon the discovery is due to the keen powers of observation of the Empress Si-ling-chi, who watched the labors of silkworms on wild mulberry trees, and who first applied their silk to use. It is interesting to associate the making of silk with an empress who loved nature and used her eyes two thousand years and more B. C. From China the art passed into Persia, India, Arabia, and finally (350 B. C.) into Greece. In 1440 A. D. the white mulberry was introduced into upper Italy, and during the reign of Charles VII. the first white mulberry was planted in France. In 1609 the silkworm was introduced into Great Britain by James I., and at the same time he sent over mulberry trees and silkworms to America, and tried to induce the colonists in Virginia to cultivate silkworms instead of raising tobacco. The wood has been used for making wine casks in Europe, and is highly valued on account of the supposed violet flavor it gives to white wines. The bark is used for making bast for mats, and linen also has been made out of it. The fruit of the white mulberry is insipid and tasteless. CHAPTER X THE LOCUSTS, THE YELLOWWOOD, AND THE KENTUCKY COFFEE TREE [Illustration: The Common Locust and the Honey Locust.] Chapter X THE LOCUSTS, THE YELLOWWOOD, AND THE KENTUCKY COFFEE TREE Family Leguminosæ The _Leguminosæ_ are a large order of plants including many different genera,—from the little clover by the wayside to the honey locust trees, 140 feet high. The trees of the different genera are all distinguished by their pod-like fruit,—the name _Leguminosæ_ being given to this family on account of the leguminous or bean-like pods which enclose the seeds. They are interesting to study on account of the buds, which differ in structure from the hidden buds of the locusts enclosed in the stem, to the subpetiolar buds of the yellowwood, concealed under the leafstalks through the summer, but conspicuous in winter after they have fallen. [Sidenote: Common Locust _Robinia pseud-acacia_]