38 A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



CHAPTER VII. 



AM, ABOUT MULCHING SPRING WORK ON OI,D BED SETTING 

 NEW BED HOW TO TAKE UP PLANTS HOW TO EAT STRAW- 

 BERRIES HOW TO CAN THEM. 



The first time the ground freezes hard enough to bear up a 

 team, in the late fall or early winter (usually between the 15th 

 of November and the 1st of December here), the strawberry- 

 plants should be mulched that is, covered with some material 

 to prevent sudden freezing and thawing during the winter, or, 

 more particularly, the early spring. It is said by some good 

 authorities that the plants are perfectly hardy, and do cot need 

 any covering, so far as protecting them is concerned. But from 

 my short experience I should say that the plants stand the win- 

 ter better, and are stronger in the spring, for being covered ; 

 and I like to get the covering on before the frost has killed all 

 the leaves. But the main object of covering is to prevent the 

 frost from lifting the plants. 



On your garden patch, probably the best mulching mate- 

 rial you can use is your strawy horse manure, if there are not 

 too many seeds in it.* Shake it up very finely and spread all 

 over the ground, just thick enough so you can not see the plants 

 through it. Spread over the paths between the rows as well as 

 over the rows. If your land is rich enough, or manure is scarce, 



* In conversing with friend Terry in regard to straw for mulch, I ask- 

 ed him what he did to prevent getting grains of wheat left by poor thrash- 

 ing. He replied, first, that he did not have poor thrashers ; second, that 

 the straw was first thrown on to a platform of rails in order to shake out 

 all the grain as far as possible, that might be left. In purchasing straw of 

 the farmers I have been greatly annoyed by the amount of grain left in 

 it ; and on one occasion, when my strawberries were mulched with rye 

 straw, enough rye came up among the berries, after fruiting, so that it was 

 cut and thrashed, and it gave me a good yield. Of course, I was so much 

 ahead on my crop of rye, but I am sure I was a good deal more behind on 

 the berries in consequence of the rank growth of grain in my berry-crop. 

 Whatever you do, don't use any kind of mulch for your strawberries, un- 

 less you know it is free from seeds of weeds and grass, grain, etc. A. I. R. 



