THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 229 



What is termed a "soil mulch" or "dust mulch" is maintained by 

 frequent cultivation of the surface soil, and, like the ordinary mulch, 

 is an effective means of retarding evaporation. Among the common 

 materials used for mulching crops are straw, marsh hay, and leaves. 

 These materials are usually applied to the whole surface of the soil 

 in layers 4 to 6 inches deep. Mulching crops with straw or other 

 litter is not very common. On a large scale it is too expensive. 

 It frequently happens on a farm, however, that spring finds an 

 old straw stack in the barnyard that will be practically valueless for 

 feed the following winter. Can it be used profitably as a mulch? 



This question was investigated quite thoroughly by the Nebraska 

 Station. Experiments were made to determine how mulching 

 vegetables compares with the most thorough cultivation as a general 

 farm practice. Old straw was the material used. After settling, 

 the layer applied was about 4 inches deep. A large number of 

 different vegetables were grown. In general it was found that 

 mulching in Nebraska gave much better results in normal or dry 

 seasons than in wet seasons. 



The value of the mulch in conserving the soil moisture was 

 found to be quite marked. Soil samples taken one season in July 

 and August showed the moisture content to a depth of 6 inches to be 

 18.2 per cent, as compared with 17.1 per cent in cultivated soil. 

 When the mulch was applied early in the season before the ground 

 became thoroughly wet, it often had a retarding effect on the growth 

 of the vegetables. With early spring vegetables, like lettuce, which 

 require only a few cultivations, it was found cheaper and better to 

 cultivate than to mulch ; but with longer-growing crops that require 

 frequent cultivation throughout the season, such as cabbage, toma- 

 toes, etc., mulching usually proved more effective and cheaper than 

 cultivation. 



The fact that most vegetables, especially the more tender kinds, 

 can not be mulched, until they have become well established and 

 the weather has become warm, thus requiring some preliminary 

 cultivation, certainly increases the labor required in growing mulched 

 vegetables over what would be necessary if the mulch could be 

 applied earlier. But, if the impracticability of early mulching 

 is a serious drawback to the use of mulches, so is the impracticability 

 of midsummer cultivation under farm conditions a serious objection 

 to dependence upon cultivation alone. For most vegetables mulch- 

 ing should be used to supplement cultivation rather than to displace 

 it. Such cultivation as is commonly given farm gardens is better 

 for most vegetables in early spring than mulching; but mulching is 

 just as surely better in midsummer than the neglect which is the 

 common thing in farm gardens at that time of year. The experi- 

 ment station tests have indeed shown mulching to be better in many 

 cases than the most thorough cultivation throughout the summer. 



The station tests indicate that it is unwise to mulch drilled 

 onions, lettuce, or sweet corn. The stand of the onions and lettuce 

 is injured by mulching, while so few cultivations are required for 

 sweet corn that mulching is hardly profitable, and in wet seasons 



