MULCH FOR STRAWBERRIES. 473 



society comes in contact with the membership as the secretary 

 necessarily must, and it is a source of pleasure and satisfaction 

 to know that there is so little inclination to shirk any of the 

 duties that come up in connection with this membership, and 

 it is a delight for the secretary to know these people, and if 

 you would like to know the secret of the success of this organ- 

 ization and the strength of its work, you must know that it lies 

 in the loyalty of its membership. A gentleman suggested that 

 if we want to pass a bill through the legislature we should get 

 our membership back of it. I think he knows we have done that. 

 We simply swamped the legislature with correspondence until 

 they cried, "Hold, enough !" I remember they said something 

 of that sort. They said they had heard from their constituents 

 about the matter, and I told them if they had not had enough 

 we would give the screw another turn. The chairman said, 

 "Don't do that, we have not got the money to pay the postage." 

 We have a thousand members upon whom we can call for any 

 service that is right and just, upon whom we can draw for the 

 support of any proper measure, and that is why we feel so sure 

 of ourselves. (Applause.) 



MULCH FOR STRAWBERRIES. 



(A discussion.) 



Question. — "What is the best mulch for strawberries?" 



Mr. Wedge : Marsh hay. 



Mr. Philips : Mr. Richardson, of Sparta, is here, and he has 

 had great success in growing strawberries. Perhaps he can tell us 

 something on this subject. 



Mr. Richardson (Wis.) : In our section of country near Sparta, 

 we have had the best success covering with marsh hay. It is the 

 best stuff we have. It is free from foul seeds and makes a very 

 excellent cover. We use rye straw when we cannot get marsh hay, 

 and otherwise we use oat straw. One of our largest growers at 

 Sparta has adopted the method of sowing corn, generally in July, 

 and then cutting it and covering his strawberries with that. He 

 raised this year about twelve acres of strawberries. He will cover 

 about half of those with corn fodder which he sowed in August. 



Prof. Green : Did it tassel out ? 



Mr. Richardson: It did to some extent, but it was rather small. 



Prof. Green: Any objection to that? 



Mr. Cook : Why not sow it earlier ? 



Mr. Richardson : It gets too rank, and after it tassels well the 

 bottoms of the leaves begin to wilt and then to drop ofif. The only 

 objection I can see is that a great many people try to put it on too 

 thick, and if they are not careful they smother the plants, but with 

 us it is considered an excellent covering. 



