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HOME FRUIT GROWER 



bear only two or even only one crop. When a second crop is to be 

 grown the leaves must be cut close to the ground with a scythe or a 

 lawn mower as soon as the last berries have been gathered. 



If the mulch is of shredded corn fodder or other material that 

 clings close to the ground, it should all be raked off with the cut leaves, 

 placed in a compost pile and covered with sods and earth for making 

 "good soil." If the material is light it may be made as loose as pos- 

 sible by lifting and shaking with a hay fork and in a day or two when 

 very dry burned right where it lies, the fire being started on the wind- 

 ward side of the patch in several places so as to be hastened by the wind. 

 The patch will look very dismal for a few days and the fear will prob- 

 ably arise that the plants have been ruined, but unless the mulch is 

 allowed to remain thickly over the plants, no damage will have occurred 

 and the eye will in due time be rejoiced by a beautiful bright growth 

 of fresh green leaves. Burning should not be done unless the soil is 

 moist and the mulch and leaves dry. 



The advantages of burning are that the old, perhaps diseased 

 leaves and stems and countless insects are destroyed and the plants 



take a new lease of life. Which- 

 ever plan is adopted the spaces 

 between the rows should be 

 cultivated shallow and a dress- 

 ing of old manure given, both 

 to serve as a mulch and as a 

 supply of plant food. When 

 this cultivation is given a 

 layer of about half an inch of 

 soil should be raked over the 

 crowns. When either the hill 

 or the hedge-row system is 

 practised the runners must be 

 cut off the same as during the 

 first year, except where a few 

 may be needed to fill gaps. 



While the Strawberry 

 thrives in every State of the 

 Union and in every Province 

 of Canada is in fact the 

 most cosmopolitan of all fruits 

 some varieties are better 

 adapted than others to certain 



Fig. 131.-Spreading the Winter mulch on the conditions. Most Strawberry 

 Strawberries nurserymen know what ones 



