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 
