30 JUNE 1950, Page 22

In the Garden

That blessed word "mulching" is much in vogue ; and according to some of its votaries it enables the gardener to grow plants, especially bush-fruit, in much more serried fashion. The reason, of course, is that the mulch, if properly generous, smothers the weeds and so relieves the gardener of cultivation between the bushes. For example, that eminent authority Mr. Shewell Cooper has suggested that black-currants may be grown almost as a hedge if a thick mulch of straw is spread between them. Tliis is said to be an aid to fertilisation, for " great is juxtaposition" in the view of fertilising insects. It is a fair prophecy, think, that strips of paper for weed-choking will one day become general

• W. BEACH THOMAS.