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up too thick it does not seem to seriously check the growth of 

 the plants, and as it dies down in the fall it leaves a slight 

 protecting mulch that prevents the baking of the soil and 

 helps to keep the berries clean in the spring. This is, of 

 course, a cheap method and it seems to succeed fairly well on 

 some soils. It is doubtful, however, if it ever gives the larg- 

 est crops, and there is always danger that the grass will grow 

 thick and heavy enough to entirely smother the plants. Clean 

 culture throughout the season is in most cases much more 

 desirable. 



At the north, berries are usually mulched heavily with 

 wheat straw or some similar material when freezing weather 

 sets in, to protect the plants from injury from severe cold, or 

 from the bad effects of frequent freezing and thawing. This 

 mulch is left between the rows in the spring to help hold 

 moisture and to keep the fruit clean. No winter or spring 

 cultivation is given. Here no such mulch is necessary to 

 protect the plants during the winter, and two or three hoeings 

 are necessary to keep down the numerous winter growing 

 weeds that would otherwise choke the plants before the end 

 of the fruiting season. The last hoeing should be given just 

 as the plants begin to bloom, and a light mulch should now 

 be scattered about the plants to prevent the fruit from being 

 spattered by dirt when it rains. Pine straw is often used for 

 this purpose, where it is available, and it answers fairly well, 

 though it is open to the objection of harboring crickets and 

 other fruit eating insects. Probably cotton seed or cotton 

 seed hulls furnishes the best mulch to use in this state. Only 

 a comparatively small quantity is required to cover the 

 exposed ground immediately about the plants. 



If the field is to be kept over for another crop, advantage 

 should be taken of the first rain after the picking season is 

 over, to bar off the rows, leaving them ten or twelve inches 

 wide and throwing the dirt to the middles. An abundant 

 application of fertilizer should be made in the furrows and the 

 dirt be worked back with the cultivator before the row has 

 time to get dried through. Subsequent cultivation is much 

 as with new set plants. The number of crops that it will pay 



