64 THE GARDENER. [Feb. 



The best mode of planting is to dig up a few well-established stools, 

 and carefully divide them without lifting them entirely, only digging 

 deeply on one side of each stool, and removing a few crowns with 

 strong pieces of healthy roots attached. Planting is more tidily done 

 as the last dressing of manure is dug into the ground, as it prevents 

 the trampling of the ground afterwards. In ordinary cases, 4 feet 

 each way is wide enough to plant. The crowns should not be placed 

 deeper than the surface of the soil if it be heavy, in light soils they 

 may be covered an inch or so with advantage, if quite dormant when 

 planted. Where the ground is clayey, a few spadefuls of light rich 

 soil may be put round each stool when planted. 



None of the stalks should be taken from the plantation during the 

 first year, except the flower-stalks, which should be removed as they 

 show themselves. If the season be dry, a few liberal waterings with 

 dung-water should be given, and the ground about mulched. The 

 second year some of the stalks may be taken for use, but it is best to 

 be easy with them, and if intended for forcing none should be taken 

 from them. Indeed, the best stools for forcing are those that have 

 made two or three years' growth without being touched. When not 

 required for forcing, a plantation lasts for many years in a good pro- 

 ductive state. But there are very few gardens nowadays where 

 Rhubarb is not required for forcing, and the best way is to plant every 

 year in proportion to the demand. Roots that have been forced are 

 sometimes used for planting again, but it is a practice not to be recom- 

 mended except in an emergency. 



This is a vegetable which can be forced easily in almost any struc- 

 ture where a little heat can be applied. The old-fashioned way of 

 placing pots over the crowns and filling up between and over them 

 with fermenting materials, such as leaves or stable-manure, or both 

 mixed, is not so much practised now as in days gone by, when good 

 Rhubarb was so produced, though with more labour and inconvenience 

 than by lifting the crowns and putting them in places constructed for 

 the purpose, or in Mushroom-houses, &c, which are heated by hot 

 water. The easiest, and in the long-run the cheapest, mode of pro- 

 ducing early Rhubarb is to have it, as well as Seakale, in a back place 

 near to any of the garden boilers, from whence some heat can be con- 

 veyed. A slight bed of leaves sufficient to produce a little bottom- 

 heat is perhaps the best means of conjunction with an atmospheric 

 warmth of 55° to 60°. The stools should be carefully dug up, the 

 soil shaken from them, and placed close together on a thin layer of 

 leaf-mould, spread over the surface of the leaves, and then filling in 

 all round the roots with leaf-mould or any light rich soil. 



Large quantities of Rhubarb are forced in the market-gardens round 



