ivator running. In garden work a steel tooth rake is a splendid
garden tool.

Volume 1905, page 230 (An. Report Minn. State Hort. Society). Mr. Schwab
gets an ideal strawberry bed, then kills it with twelve inches of mulch.
If the ice and snow had not come perhaps the plants would have pulled
through. Volume 41, page 390. Mr. Wildhagen gives an ideal paper on
strawberries, it will pay you to read it again and again. Instead of one
year's preparation, I would have three.

_Winter Protection._ Unless in an exposed place, marsh hay is the best
and cleanest mulch, but high winds may roll it off. Clean straw away
from the tailings of the machine is next best. For small acreage if one
inch can be put on as soon as the ground is frozen a half inch, it will
save the many freezings and thawings before winter sets in. For large
acreage it is not practical to cover till frost will hold up a loaded
wagon. Two inches of mulch, that covers the plants and paths from sight
is enough, but I see you cover deeper, from four to twelve inches in
Minnesota, and often smother the plants. If we could have a snow blanket
come early and stay on late in spring, that would protect the plants,
but we want the mulch also to protect from drouth and keep the berries
clean. A January thaw is liable to kill out any field that is not
properly mulched.

A two inch mulch will not hinder the plants coming through in spring;
four inches will require part of the mulch raked into the paths; if
plants don't get through readily loosen the mulch. I have known some
successful growers to take off all the mulch from the paths in spring
and cultivate lightly but thoroughly, then replace the mulch to protect
from drouth and to keep the berries clean, but I don't think it pays.

_Weeds._ In the best fields and beds I ever saw there will come up an
occasional weed in spring, and it pays to go over the ground with a
spade or butcher knife and take out such weeds. We almost always get a
drouth at picking time, better a drought than too much rain. A good
straw mulch will usually carry us through.

_Irrigation._ If irrigation is attempted the fields must be prepared
before planting to run water through between the rows. Sprinkling will
not do except at sundown. Rain always comes in cloudy weather; you
cannot wet foliage in sun in hot weather without damage. A good rainfall
is one inch, which is a thousand barrels to the acre, so what can you do
with a sprinkling cart?