Without this mulch the fruit is
usually unfit for the table. A dashing shower splashes the berries
with mud and grit, and the fruit must be washed before it is
eaten; and strawberries with their sun-bestowed beauty and flavor
washed away are as ridiculous as is mere noise from musical
instruments. To be content with such fruit is like valuing
pictures by the number of square inches of canvas! In perfecting a
strawberry, Nature gives some of her finest touches, and it is not
well to obliterate them with either mud or water. Any light clean
material will keep the fruit clean. I have found spring rakings of
the lawn--mingled dead grass and leaves--one of the best. Leaves
from a grove would answer, were it not for their blowing about in
an untidy way. Of course there is nothing better than straw for
the strawberry; but this often costs as much as hay. Any clean
litter that will lie close to the ground and can be pushed up
under the plants will answer. Nor should it be merely under the
plants. A man once mulched my rows in such a way that the fruit
hung over the litter on the soil beyond. A little common-sense
will meet the requirement of keeping the berries well away from
the loose soil, while at the same time preserving a neat aspect to
the bed. Pine-needles and salt-hay are used where these materials
are abundant.
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