RENOVATING THE OLD BED 93 



quite early In the spring; otherwise the straw- 

 berries will have a whitish tender growth 

 which will be injured when exposed to the 

 sun. Where light mulching is carried on, and 

 the plants are pushing their growth through, 

 it is best to remove only patches of mulch 

 that are too thick for rapid plant develop- 

 ment. 



Some growers remove the mulch just as 

 early as they can, and practise thorough cul- 

 tivation up to the time that the fruits are half 

 grown, believing that they are thus able to 

 obtain large yields of better quality fruit. 

 If the mulch seems to be needed they re- 

 place it in order that the fruit may be held 

 up from the soil. 



The chief drawback to this method is the 

 greater chance of the fruit being gritty by 

 being spattered with the loose soil if rain 

 should fall during the last stages of fruiting. 



RENEWING OLD BEDS 



The lack of sufficient knowledge on the 

 subject of renewing old strawberry beds has 

 caused many growers to go out of the business 

 in despair and pronounce this industry an 

 unprofitable one. This question of just 



