162 SUCCESSFUL FRUIT CULTURE 



The Sprinkling Method This method is not so 

 much in use as the last, but possesses some merits 

 over it, as the water is applied in the most natural 

 manner and over the whole surface, and when properly 

 applied has generally given remarkable results. It 

 can, however, be applied only where there is a good 

 head or force to distribute in a fine spray to considerable 

 distance. The best time for applying water is an im- 

 portant matter. It has been found that the same 

 amount of water applied at night will do much more 

 good than if applied in the morning, that there is less 

 loss by evaporation, and the ground is less hardened. 

 If water is applied, enough should be used to wet down 

 to the roots fully, or little or no benefit will result, for 

 if only the surface soil is wet the roots work up to the 

 surface and continued dry weather will be more de- 

 structive than if no water were used. 



WINTER PROTECTION 



While the strawberry is perfectly hardy, growing, 

 as it does, at the extreme North, if the ground is not 

 covered with snow from the time it is frozen in the fall 

 till settled weather comes on in the spring, the plants 

 will be heaved out, and for this reason it is the practice 

 of all Northern growers to cover the strawberry fields 

 as soon as the ground is frozen in the fall. If deeply 

 covered before the ground is frozen the plants are often 

 smothered, and all of the old leaves destroyed, and, 

 while this does not ruin the crop, yet the plants do not 

 start with the vigor that they would if these leaves 

 were uninjured. 



Mulching Material Various materials are used for 

 this purpose, among the best of which are pine needles, 

 rye straw, oat straw, meadow or sedge hay, corn stover, 

 buckwheat straw, soy beans, etc., etc. ; of these perhaps 



