You can buy home-grown raspberries in the shops, and often loganberries, blackberries, even; but a fruit which resembles a cross between the last two is not available. It is probably a climatic matter. For, though the tree which produces them grows well, the fruit seldom comes to anything like full maturity. So, while it is a pleasure to have around you, the mulberry tree does not earn its keep if it's the fruit you want. A friend had told of a mulberry tree growing in the grounds of Breaffy House Hotel, Castlebar. He had seen it on a visit about 30 years ago, and was impressed by the fact that, though it had fallen, the roots remained attached to the trunk and the tree was not only in leaf but actually fruiting.
The impression had been given that the trunk was fairly long and straight, with some of the limbs flourishing vertically. A small water colour behind the front door shows Breaffy as it was "circa 1900", and in front of it is a modest enough tree, not of any great height, but already being propped up by stays or posts. (Perhaps it was bigger, but the artist had to show more of the then house.)
Anyway you look for this fallen mulberry and find what looks more like a shrubbery. Lovely big shining leaves, a stout trunk with branches all in a fine tangle. Have one or two of the branches actually rooted as they lay on the ground? Anyway, a splendid wreck, though wreck is hardly the word, for it is a characteristic of the mulberry to be at its best when of some age. One item in the Field Book of Country Queries tells us that the tree must be long past its youth before it becomes a regular bearer of fruit. So the young trees, being poor bearers, are, you suppose, cut down.
King James I of England was a fan; he encouraged their planting in the early 17th century. In southern England and maybe even in Kerry and Cork here, the good eating variety may be successful, that is morus nigra, but in, say Meath, the fruit is small, interesting, but a conversation piece rather than a crop. The Breaffy tree or trees had some fruit, much of it still green, but a few red. Breaffy House, by the way has a Mulberry Bar. Mrs Beeton gives Preserved Mulberries in her book i.e. jam.