THE STRAWBEEET. 247 



except in the intervening paths, where the plow may be 

 used. During the second season there should be no room 

 for the hoe, and the work should be confined to hand- 

 weeding, when necessary. The soil, in all three meth- 

 ods, should be kept mellow and clean until just before 

 budding or blooming commences, in order to destroy as 

 many of the germs of weeds as possible. 



MULCHING. 



Immediately after the last working, a mulch should 

 be applied around the plants and over the entire inter- 

 vening surface. This is done especially to prevent the 

 fruit from becoming splashed with soil by rains. The 

 other benefits of the mulch, already mentioned in a 

 former chapter, will follow incidentally. If possible, 

 the mulch should be thick enough to prevent the growth 

 of grass. 



Of our available materials for mulching, pine straw 

 is the best, either whole or cut, as insects are less apt to 

 harbor under it. Sawdust is objectionable because the 

 finer particles will adhere to the fruit, and when rice 

 chaff is used, small graminivorous birds are apt to scratch 

 away berries, as well as a part of the mulch, in search for 

 pieces of the grain. As soon as the fruiting season is 

 over, the mulch must be removed and the crop cleaned 

 and cultivated at whatever cost of labor. It is right here 

 that the fatal neglect generally occurs. 



The matted bed requires no mulch the second season, 

 nor should there be any room for it. The closely grow- 

 ing plants will protect the fruit from being soiled. 

 Owing to the crowded condition of the plants, the earlier 

 will be the exhaustion of the soil, and the greater the 

 impossibility of stirring the compacted surface. Hence 

 the bearing of the matted bed becomes so poor that it is 

 generally advisable to plow it up after the second season, 

 and to use the land for some other crop. Plantings, 



