GEOWING RHUBAEB IN THE CELLAR 



H. L. HUTT, B. S. A., 



O. A. C, GUF.LPH. 



MOST farmers who have a garden 

 at all usually have a good supply 

 of the old fashioned pie plant or 

 rhubarb. This vigorous growing plant 

 provides a wholesome substitute for fruit 

 early in the spring before strawberries come 

 in. It is not generally known, however, 

 that it can. be made to produce its crop in an 

 ordinary cellar during the winter, when it 

 would be probably more appreciated than 

 when grown in the usual way in the garden 

 in the spring. The accompanying illustra- 

 tion shows th-e growth in March of a couple 

 of roots in an ordinary vegetable cellar, a^'ter 

 half the crop had been pulled. 



Fig. 2700. Rhubarb grown in a Cellar. 



The rhubarb plant makes its most vigor- 

 ous growth under natural conditions early 

 in the spring, when its large leaves store ;ip 

 in the thick fleshy roots a large amount of 

 nutriment for the production of seed during 

 the summer and growth earlv next season. 



To get the best roots for forcing it is well 

 to allow the plants to make their full gprowth 

 with little or no cropping of the leaves the 

 previous season, and above all not to allow 

 them to exhaust themselves by throwing up 

 seed stalks. The more liberally the plants 

 are manured and the better they are culti- 

 vated the stron.ger the roots become and the 

 better the crop they will give when forced 

 in the cellar. 



In preparing the roots for the cellar they 

 should be dug up late in the fall just before 

 the ground freezes hard. They should then 

 be left where they will be exposed to severe 

 freezing for three or four weeks. If placed 

 under cover in an open shed, or where they 

 will not be buried in snow, it will be all the 

 easier to get at them when it is time to take 

 them to the cellar. About Christmas time 

 they may be put in the cellar and should be 

 banked with earth to keep the roots moist. 

 Care should be taken that the plants are sst 

 right side up, as at that time it is sometimes 

 difficult to tell which side of the ball of earth 

 the crowns are on. In the course of a few 

 days the roots w'ill thaw out, and usually 

 enough moisture is thus given off to keep 

 them fresh- for some time. They should be 

 watched, however, as they may need water 

 once or twice during the winter to keep the 

 soil moist. The warmer the cellar, the 

 more quickly growth will start, and for the 

 best results a rather low temperature, about 

 the same as that in which potatoes are kept, 

 is best. In a partially lighted cellar the leaf 

 blades will expand very little, and all the 

 strength of the root will go to the develop- 

 ment of the stalks. If the cellar is light it 

 is well to darken the part where the plants 

 are kept. If the roots are strong and vigor- 



