It is a low, thick-branched tree with
large light-colored downy leaves and dark-scarlet fruit."
"I wonder," said Malcolm, "if the bark is like birch-bark?"
"It does not look like it," replied Miss Harson, "but it seems to be
very much of the same nature. The red mulberry and black mulberry are
the most hardy of these trees, and the red mulberry will thrive farther
north than any of the family. The wood is valuable for many purposes for
which timber is used, and especially in boat-building. And now, as we
learned something about silkworms and their cocoons in our talks about
insects[15], there is little more to be said of the mulberry tree which
any but learned people would care to know."
[15] See _Flyers and Crawlers_. Presbyterian Board of Publication.
"I want to hear about the bread tree," said little Edith, "and how the
loaves of bread grow on it."
"Do they, Miss Harson?" asked Clara, not exactly seeing how this could
be.
"I don't believe they're very hot," remarked Malcolm, who was puzzled
over the bread-fruit tree himself, but who laughed at his little
sister's idea in a very knowing way. It was not an ill-natured laugh,
though, and a glance from his governess always quieted him.
"No, dear," replied Miss Harson, answering Clara; "loaves of bread do
not grow on any tree. But I will tell you about the bread-fruit
presently; let us finish the _Morus_ family and their kindred in our own
country before we go to their foreign relations.
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