Mulching 115 



It must be put on very late in the fall and taken oflF early 

 in the spring, or it will smother the plants. Seaweed is 

 satisfactory for a winter mulch if most of it is ribbon 

 weed, eel-grass or other coarse weeds; if it is mostly 

 Irish moss or other fine weeds, it may smother the plants. 

 If the spring is wet, a seaweed mulch favors rotting of 

 the fruit. In Nova Scotia a mulch of rushes has been 

 found satisfactory. 



Several kinds of woody material are used successfully 

 under certain conditions. In those parts of Canada and 

 northern United States where the ground is covered 

 with snow most of the winter, strawberries may be 

 mulched with boughs or brush to keep the snow from blow- 

 ing away. Evergreen trees, eight to twelve feet high, are 

 used, preferably of fir; the branches are trimmed from 

 one side so that the boughs will lie where placed. Some 

 Manitoba growers prefer deciduous brush cut in summer 

 so that the leaves adhere through the winter. Brush 

 and boughs merely hold the snow, and do not make a 

 mulch that protects the fruit ; hence it is better to apply 

 a light straw mulch first, with brush on top. 



Miscellaneous mulching materials. 



Planing mill shavings have given fair results, but saw- 

 dust is objectionable. If applied heavily enough to pro- 

 tect from winter injury, it lies so closely that it keeps the 

 ground cold and smothers the plants. Moreover, the 

 fine dust is spattered upon the berries. Pine sawdust is 

 not as injurious as oak sawdust. Spent tan-bark, which 

 was used extensively about 1850, was found undesirable. 

 If used, it should leach for a year. Swamp muck has 

 been used successfully when herbage material was scarce. 

 In the North, plants grown in hills or hedge-rows have 



