124 Strawberry-Growing 



used depends on whether the mulch is expected to con- 

 serve soil moisture as well as to keep the fruit clean. If 

 so, the straw should be about two inches deep after settling, 

 and spread over the entire surface. If used only for 

 protecting the fruit of hill plants, a few handfuls of straw 

 may be placed over and around each plant. The pine 

 straw mulch is used to advantage also for protecting the 

 blossoms from frost (page 282). One objection to this 

 material is that it harbors crickets and other insects which 

 eat the fruit. Its dark color is a disadvantage; this 

 absorbs heat, which is reflected upon the pickers; and 

 the sharp needles warp up and prick their knees. 



Cotton seed hulls and rice chaff are used to some extent 

 in the South, especially hulls. Only enough hulls are 

 used to hide the soil under the plants and for four or 

 five inches on each side. Usually this takes three to 

 five tons an acre; since hulls cost four to five dollars a 

 ton, this is an expensive mulch, but the decaying hulls 

 add to the soil a small amount of potash. Where wire- 

 grass hay is abundant, it can be used to advantage for 

 the fruiting mulch ; it is ^ free from weed seeds, soft and 

 durable. About one ton to the acre is sujfficient. In some 

 parts of the South, especially in Florida, crickets and other 

 fruit-eating insects are so serious in mulched fields that 

 mulching is impracticable. 



At the Arkansas Experiment Station the yield was in- 

 creased one-third by spring mulching. One or two tons 

 of straw or prairie hay are sufficient. A manure spreader 

 is used to apply this light mulch. A wide frame is at- 

 tached to the box of the spreader, and a man stays on 

 top of the load to keep the straw packed down so that it 

 will feed. Two rows are covered at a round more evenly 

 and with less material than is possible with hand spread- 



