368 



HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



EHE 



have been cultivated from the earliest ages 

 for the medicinal properties they possess. 

 Dioscorides, who was physician to Antony and 

 Cleopatra, wrote on its qualities, and recom- 

 mended it for use. The Turkish Rhubarb, so 

 largely employed in medicine, is the root of 

 R. palmatum, a native of China, and is sent to 

 Europe through Russia, bythewayof Kiachta. 

 It was formerly imported from Natolia, whence 

 the name Turkey Rhubarb. The Turks get the 

 credit of producing this important article of 

 commerce, when, in reality, it only passes 

 through their country. An inferior article 

 used ip the adulteration of this drug is grown 

 throughout southern Europe. The Rhubarb 

 of our gardens is a hybrid of R. Rhaponticum, 

 a native of Asia, but of what particular part 

 is not known, nor the time of its introduction. 

 It was first cultivated in England by Dr. 

 Fothergill in 1778, but did not come into 

 general use as a culinary vegetable until 

 several years later. As a market crop it has 

 only been cultivated about fifty years. Many 

 varieties have been introduced, for which we 

 are chiefly indebted to the British gardeners. 

 Some of the varieties, under high cultivation, 

 produce enormous leaf-stems ; the size, how- 

 ever, is largely at the expense of quality. The 

 roots of R. palmatum, and R. officinale, furnish 

 the Rhubarb of commerce, and R. Rhaponti- 

 cum is also cultivated extensively for medici- 

 nal purposes. Several of the species are very 

 handsome, both in their foliage and inflores- 

 cence ; notably R. nobile, a comparatively 

 recent introduction from the Himalayas, and 

 one that is highly prized as a decorative plant. 

 The radicalieaves are large and glossy, bright- 

 green in color, with red stems and nerves. 

 The chief beauty, however, is in the bracts or 

 stipules on the flower stems ; these are of a 

 delicate straw color, shining, semi-transpar- 

 ent, concave and imbricating, so as to entirely 

 conceal the greenish flowers, the upper bracts 

 being delicately edged with pink. Dr. Hooker, 

 speaking of this Sikkim species as he saw it 

 growing wild, says that it has such a singular 

 and showy appearance, that its introduction 

 into cultivation is greatly to be desired. He 

 thus describes the plant: "The individual 

 plants of R. nobile, are upward of a yard high, 

 and form conical towers of the most delicate 

 straw-colored, shining, semi-transparent, con- 

 cave, imbricating bracts, the upper of which 

 have pink edges ; the large, bright, glossy, 

 shining green radical leaves, with red petioles 

 and nerves, forming a broad base to the whole. 

 On turning up the bracts, the beautiful mem- 

 braneous, fragile pink stipules are seen like 

 red tissue paper, and within these again the 

 short-branohed panicles of insignificant green 

 flowers. The root is verj* long, often many 

 feet, and winds among the rocks ; it is as thick 

 as the arm, and bright yellow inside. After 

 flowering, the stem lengthens, the bracts 

 separate one from another, become coarse, 

 red brown, withered and torn ; finally, as the 

 fruit ripens they fall away, leaving a ragged- 

 looking stem, covered with panicles of deep 

 brown, pendulous fruits. In the winter these 

 naked black stems, projecting from the beet- 

 ling cliffs, or towering above the snow, are in 

 dismal keeping with the surrounding desola- 

 tion of the season. The natives, it is said, 

 eat the pleasantly acid stems, and call them 

 Chuka." 



RHE 



Rhubaeb is a plant found in every welJ 

 appointed garden. It is of the easiest cul- 

 ture, and will grow in open sunshine or 

 partial shade ; but for its best development a 

 deep, rich, well-drained soil in open sunshine 

 is indispensable. When wanted for private 

 use a couple of dozen plants, which can be 

 procured cheaply from almost any nursery- 

 man, is the best way to get a supply ; but 

 when wanted in quantity for market purposes, 

 the cheapest way is to sow the seed in March 

 or April in well-prepared and richly manured 

 land in rows four feet apart. When the plants 

 come up so as to have covered the ground, 

 thin them out to two or three inches apart; 

 and again later in the season, say by August, to 

 two feet apart, so that they will now stand two 

 feet between the plants and four feet between 

 the rows. The last thinnings, if needed, may 

 be used for making permanent plantations. 

 Another plan of raising Rhubarb from seed is 

 as follows : About the middle of March sow 

 the seeds thickly in a cold pit or frame, in 

 light, fibrous soil, such as leaf mould, so that 

 the young plants will make fibres freely, and 

 thus be easily transplanted. One pound of 

 seed will be enough to sow six 3x6 sashes, and 

 will give about one thousand plants. In four 

 or five weeks after sowing, the plants will be fit 

 for transplanting, which may be done in richly- 

 prepared beds of six rows each, at a distance 

 of one foot each way. By fall they will have 

 made fine, well-ripened roots, which may be 

 thinned out either in the fall or spring, leaving 

 the plants that stand at four feet between the 

 plants and six feet between the rows. The 

 plants that have not been moved will give a 

 partial crop the next year, or in about fifteen 

 or sixteen months after the seed was sown. 

 The roots lifted out as thinnings should be 

 planted, either in the fall or spring, for a per- 

 manent crop, at the same distances apart; 

 but, having been disturbed, they will make a 

 weaker growth, and no crop should be taken 

 the first year of planting, as removing the 

 leaves of course "weakens the newly-planted 

 root, which has not yet vigor enough to en- 

 dure it. The second year after planting, how- 

 ever, a full crop will be obtained, if the ground 

 has been in a proper, well-pulverized and 

 enriched condition. The most profitable and 

 simple part of Rhubarb growing is by forcing, 

 after a supply of large roots has been obtained ; 

 and if forcing is to be continued, a succession 

 of such supply should always be on hand, as 

 the roots, after forcing, are worthless. All 

 that is necessary in forcing Rhubarb is to take 

 the large three or four-year-old roots from the 

 open field, which, if well-grown, will be from 

 fifteen to twenty inches in diameter, and 

 pack them upright as closely as they can be 

 wedged together (with light soil shaken in to 

 fill the interstices between the roots) under 

 the stage or benches of the green-house, or 

 in a warm cellar, or, in fact, in any place 

 where there is a growing temperature ; say 

 an average of sixty degrees. But little water 

 is needed, and none until the Rhubarb shows 

 signs of healthy growth. There is no necessity 

 for light ; in fact, the stems being blanched by 

 being grown in the dark, are much more 

 tender than when grown in the light and air 

 of the open garden, and are therefore more 

 valuable, besides being forced at a season 

 (from January to April) when they are not 



