Mulching 113 



ten acres of corn fodder will mulch two acres of straw- 

 berries in the latitude of Ohio. 



Growing a mulch crop. 



When it is necessary to grow a crop especially for 

 mulching, the choice usually is sorghum, cowpeas or 

 soybeans. Sorghum is sown thickly so late in summer 

 that it will not head before frost ; in case it shows a dis- 

 position to head it should be cut. If sorghum hay is 

 stored under cover it can be used for two seasons. In 

 the South, sugar-cane is preferred to sorghum; it is 

 seeded at the rate of two and a half bushels to the acre. 



Corn, sowed broadcast or drilled very thickly about 

 midsummer, so that it makes very small stalks like 

 sorghum, is about as serviceable. The usual rate of 

 seeding is eight to ten pecks an acre. The corn can be 

 drilled in where the old strawberry bed has been plowed 

 under. If it stands straight, it can be cut and tied into 

 bundles with a wheat binder. These bundles are laid 

 on the row of strawberry plants lengthways, touching 

 each other ; then the strings are cut and the mulch spread 

 . over the row. If, however, the corn is lodged, it must be 

 cut with a mowing machine and handled like hay. In 

 Michigan, an acre of corn grown in this way w^ill cover 

 two to four acres of strawberries, according to the method 

 of training. 



Japanese millet is used somewhat in the North, since 

 it can be seeded late, after a crop of potatoes or sweet 

 corn, or upon an old strawberry bed. In the irrigated 

 regions of the Rocky Mountain states, an alfalfa mulch 

 is preferred ; it is comparatively cheap and contains no 

 weed seeds. When it is removed in the spring, enough 

 leaves remain to keep the berries clean. In the Pacific 



