Dobs Mulching Ketaud the Matukity of Fruits? 261 



not mulched. If it is desired to retard the bloom and fruit as 

 much as possible, a light mulch should be put over the plants at 

 the usual time of covering in the fall, and after the ground is frozen 

 deep enough so that there will be no danger of smothering the 

 plants, add enough more to cover the whole surface of the bed three 

 or four inches deep, using light material ; do not use coarse manure, 

 except to scatter a little over the light mulching to keep the wind from 

 blowing the mulch from the plants. As soon as warm weather comes, 

 the plants will need close attention and more especially if there is 

 much rainy weather. The mulching should be kept over the plants, 

 but must be stirred up often, and later it will be necessary to work 

 some of the mulch off the plants into the vacant places between the 

 rows, leaving as much over the plants as they will grow through with- 

 out turning white. Do not take the mulch off the bed until the crop is 

 harvested. 



I. N. Stone. 



Benjamin Buckman, JFarmingdale, central Illinois, finds from two to 

 seven days' delay in mulched strawberries. 

 We often leave parts of strawberry patches unmulched that we may 

 get earlier berries. It will make from two day's to a week's difference. 

 If the mulch is very heavy and put on after the ground is frozen to 

 the greatest depth, they are more retarded than when the mulch is 

 applied before the ground freezes, for evident reasons. Mulched 

 strawberries have a better color — much more glossy than unmulched. 

 Aside from keeping the ground cooler, the maturity of the berries is 

 retarded by the fact that in a heavy mulch many plants find difficulty 

 in pushing through the straw, and are really late plants with the 

 development all to come in after they get to the light. Frost collects 

 on straw, and I think straw-mulched strawberries are more injured 

 (considering their state of advancement) than those unmulched. 



Bbnj. Buckman. 



A. B. McKay, Agricultural College, Miss., find the fruit of straw- 

 berries can be retarded. 



Some years ago I mulched a patch heavily with leaves, and the plants 



were very slow to start on the mulched portion. The crop was later 



and lighter than on the unmiilched portion. I did not repeat the 



experiment. 



A. B. McKay. 



