Mulching 125 



ing. The mulch should be applied several weeks before 

 the blossoming season so that it will settle around the 

 plants. There is very little mulching on the Pacific 

 coast, except in home gardens and in the foothills. The 

 large hill plants of eastern British Columbia sometimes 

 are mulched with short straw worked under the plants, 

 where it will not interfere with tillage. This is placed 

 around them by hand when the earliest berries are as 

 big as peas. Two tons of cut straw to the acre are suffi- 

 cient. Where irrigation is practiced, a mulch is a decided 

 inconvenience and is seldom used. 



