MULCHING 
Mulching should be done in the ‘fall as soon as possible after the 
summer's growth is finished — before really severely cold weather. 
What to use and how to apply it can best be decided 
with the purposes of mulching in mind — (I) 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 pum- 
ice and saw dust, especially since they contain no weed seed. Such 
material as clover butfins 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 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 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. We generally 
think that a patch should be fruited for two years, and that thereafter 
it is a better plan to have a new fruiting bed. 
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. 
