Constant hoeing or harrowing to maintain a natural soil mulch layer of 2 or 3 in.
Mulch and water fruit trees and strawberries in dry weather, desisting when the fruit begins to ripen.
Nearly a month later black-face lambs are marked and the eild sheep are shorn - the shearing of mulch ewes being delayed till the second week of July.
A mulch of half-decayed stable litter is useful to prevent loss of moisture in summer.
A loose layer of earth spread over the surface of the soil acts in the same way, and a similarly effective mulch may be prepared by hoeing the soil, or stirring it to a depth of one or two inches with harrows or other implements.