234 The Fruit-Growers Guide-Book 



sections the mulch is applied in the fall as soon as the 

 ground freezes, in which case it serves all three purposes, 

 but in the South, where winter protection is not needed, it 

 may not be applied until in the spring, for the purpose of 

 keeping the berries clean. In the most of the Western 

 sections a mulch is not used at all, as it-is not needed dur- 

 ing the winter. Since rains seldom interfere at the time 

 the crop is ripening a straw mulch is not necessary to keep 

 the berries from becoming spattered. 



Where a mulch is needed, straw serves the best pur- 

 pose, although it is open to the objection of introducing 

 seeds of the grain and various kinds of weeds, which may 

 cause serious trouble in the field. 



Where the mulch is applied for a winter protection it 

 need not go on until the grpund has frozen, as it is not 

 the object of the mulch to keep the ground from freezing 

 but to prevent the alternation 1 of freezing and thawing sev- 

 eral times during the winter. The dressing should be ap- 

 plied at the rate of a couple' or three tons of good straw 

 spread evenly over the rows of plants. In the spring 

 this mulch will be so well water soaked from the effects 

 of the winter snows and rains that it will rest heavily on 

 the plants. When the plants give signs of renewing their 

 activities it is necessary to draw the mulch from over the 

 berries, leaving it close up to the sides of the rows where 

 it will keep the rains from spattering dirt on the ripening 

 fruit. 



Renewing 



Strawberry fields will not be profitable producers after 

 they have made two crops. This is because the land will 

 be more or less choked with the plants and new plants 

 cannot obtain a place to grow and develop, so that the field 

 needs to be renewed. There are a number of ways in 

 which this can be done but one of the simplest and most 

 effective means is to plow out the spaces between the 

 rows, leaving a strip in the middle about six inches wide. 

 Turn the soil away from the rows, back-furrowing 

 towards the middle. Then make a liberal application 

 pf manure, throwing the most of it into the fur- 



