STRAWBERRIES 23 
at the rate of 4 cwts. per acre, or say, 3 lbs. per sq. rod, 
will give a good return. 
The spring mulching should serve a double purpose. 
In the first place it should have some manurial value, 
and in the second should serve to protect the fruit from 
mud-splashes during rains. If long, strawy stable litter, 
stained with manure and urine, be placed two inches 
thick around the plants as soon as the flower spikes 
appear, it will (a very dry season only excepted), he 
washed quite clean by the time the fruits ripen, and 
form a soft bed for them as well as keep them clean. 
This mulching should be placed close up to the crown 
of the strawberry plants and should cover the whole soil 
surface of the bed; it will then serve to reduce evapora- 
tion. Move the litter on one side when applying liquid 
manure. 
In dry seasons and especially on light soils watering 
becomes an absolute necessity if good crops are to be 
obtained. It is always a good plan to examine the soil 
just previous to the spring mulching and if it is at all dry 
to give a good watering at once. A soaking with clear 
water just before the fruits ripen is frequently desirable 
to wash the litter quite clean. On all well-drained 
plantations liquid manure is not by any means wasted if 
given once or twice during the winter. 
FORCING 
Even in these days of advanced horticulture some- 
what of mystery seems, in the minds of the uninitiated, 
to surround the production of very early strawberries, 
and the occasional very high prices (32s. per |b.) secured 
for a limited number of fruits has served to increase the 
mystery. And yet the whole business is simple enough 
and success follows according to the amount of attention 
