294 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



December, 1907 



arboriculture, planting, grafting, prun- in a parish, the more fruit will be sold, 

 ing, spraying, and so forth. I could In the single parish of St. Joseph du Lac, 



Summer Fruits in Antiseptic Solutions at Ontario Horticultural Exhibition 

 A part of the exhibit from the Fruit Experiment Station at Burlington, of which Mr. A. \V. Peart is manager. 



spring fully equipped to do its part 

 in producing big crops of big red ber- 

 ries. Xo argument is needed in be- 

 half of a practice that will accomplisli 

 all of these desirable results. 



What shall be used as mulch? The 

 ihings pressed into service as mulch 

 are numerous and vastly different, 

 and range from pine cones in the 

 south, where the vines require no 

 covering, to seaweed along the North , 

 Atlantic coast where nature is shy of 1 

 rains and grasses. The most satis- ' 

 factory mulch we have found is old 

 and somewhat rotted wheat straw, i 

 and following in the order of excellence \ 

 may be named oat and rye straw, 

 shredded corn fodder, thickly sown 

 corn, sorghum pomace and marsh hay. 

 Old leaves are all right to place be- , 

 tween the rows, but something having j 

 the form of straw should be put over 

 the plants. 



The time to apply is in the fall after 

 severe frosts have begun. Up to that 

 time the root development of the straw- 

 berry plant continues, and this the 

 grower wishes to encourage, of course. 

 Then the mulch comes on to protect 

 the plants from injury and to insure a 

 healthy spring foliage, which in turn 

 makes certain a vigorous growth of 

 the plant when the gentle rains and 

 warm sunshine of spring return. 



dwell longer on this subject and verify 

 the results obtained in certain places. 

 Finally, the more orchards there are 



bordering on La Trappe, there was 

 nearly $20,000 worth of fruit sold this 

 autumn. 



T 



Clean up and burn all fallen limbs, 

 and so far as possible reduce the number 

 of hiding places for hibernating insects. 

 Protect the young orchard against 

 mice and rabbits by wrapping the 

 trunks of the trees with felt paper or 

 veneer. 



The Canadian Horticulturist 



HE time has gone by when the ques- would be lost in large quantities were would be pleased to receive letters from 



tion "to mulch or not to mulch," the open spaces left to the ravages of readers who have had experience in the 



wind and rain. The fertility is con- making and use of cement posts for 

 served, the moisture is retained, and vineyards. State how to make and the 

 the soil enters upon its work in the cost compared with wood. 



MulcKin^ tKe Stra>vberries 



"W. H. BurKe, THree Rivers, MicK. 



need be discussed. Good hor- 

 ticultural practice demands that mulch- 

 ing be done not only as protection 

 from the severe cold of winter, but 

 because, first, alternate freezing and 

 thawing are rendered impossible by 

 mulching, thus preventing the strain- 

 ing and breaking down of the plants; 

 second, mulching keeps the plants dor- 

 mant, preventing to a degree extra- 

 early blooming and reducing the dan- 

 ger from late spring frosts; third, 

 mulching insures clean berries at har- 

 vest time; fourth, mulching retains 

 moisture in the soil at fruiting time, 

 just when the plants require the most 

 ample supply; and, fifth, it gives to 

 the strawberry grower complete as- 

 surance that his plants are coming 

 out all right in the spring. 



Not only is mulching of great ad- 

 vantage to the strawberry plants, but 

 the soil is benefited beyond estimate 

 by this covering. The mineral sub- 

 stances in the soil, which constitute 

 the feed that nourishes the plants. 



Mulching One Hundred Acres of Strawberry Plants 



This illustrates the manner in which mulching is applied to the 100 acres of strawberry plants on the R.M. Kellogg 

 Company's strawberry plant farms at Three Rivers, Michigan. Hundreds of tons are annually used in this work. 

 Mulching is one of the methods followed to insure perfect plants, and with an annual crop of from 20,000,000 to 

 25,000,000 plants it is easily to be understood that mulching is considered by this great concern a most impor- 

 tant feature of its work. 



