MULCHING dh 
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 decided 
with the purposes of mulching in mind — (1) to prevent winter 
damage from excessive cold when plants are unprotected and 
from alternate freezing and thawing, (2) to conserve moisture 
in the bearing season and keep the soil in better 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. 
Early 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 on 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 bie 
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. 
