MULCHING 
Mulching should be done in the fall as soon as possible after the 
summer’s growth is finished—before really severe cold weather. 
What to use and how to apply it can best be de- 
cided with the purposes of mulching in mind — (1) to 
prevent wiiter damage from excessive cold when 
plants are unprotected and from alternate freezing and 
thawing, (2) to conserve moisture in the bearing sea- 
son and keep the soil in betier condition, (3) to keep 
down weeds, (4) to keep fruit clean, (5) to retard 
growth somewhat in early spring, thereby lessening - 
the danger from early frosts. 
We generally use wheat or rye straw, mulching to a depth of 
about three inches and requiring something less than three tons for an 
acre. Other good materials are shredded fodder, spoiled ensilage, cane 
pumice and saw dust, especially since they contain no weed seed. Such 
material as clover buffins is poor because of weed, grass or clover seed. 
For the same reason it is a poor practice to top dress a berry field after 
the plants are grown, unless you are very sure that there are no grass 
or weed seeds in the material used. 
Karly in April you must go along the row and lift off just enough 
of the mulching material to allow the new strawberry growth to show 
through. 
RENOVATING OLD FIELDS 
Renovating an old field and preparing it for another year’s fruiting 
is often one of the toughest problems a grower has. Every patch is its 
own problem, and no set rules can be given for the job. 
After the fruiting season is done, we go along on each side of the 
row with a tool of the roto-tiller type. This cuts the width of the row 
to about six inches, effectively stirs up the ground between the rows, 
and destroys most of the weeds. A good hoeing then leaves the patch 
in very good shape. The whole process is repeated once or twice in 
the summer season, and the row is allowed to grow to a width of twelve 
or fourteen inches. 
