248 On the Cultivation of Rhubarb > 



and some of the establishments near the city send loads of the stalks 

 to Covent Garden every season. By early forcing it is produced 

 throughout nearly the whole season. 



Varieties. — There are several varieties in cultivation in the Eng- 

 lish gardens, but only two or three have ever, we believe, found 

 their way into our country. The R. rhaponticum, we presume, is 

 the kind generally known ; but two years since we received the 

 seeds of a variety called TVilmofs early scarlet ; this is so much su- 

 perior to the old kind, both as respects its earliness and excellent 

 qualities, that we predict it will take, in a short time, its place in 

 most gardens. 



Propagation. — All the sorts are propagated by dividing the roots 

 or by seeds — the latter is the best method, making stronger and finer 

 plants ; when, however, the seeds are not to be procured, or the 

 kind rare, the roots answer very well. They should be taken from 

 the old one with as large a piece of root as possible, and the crown 

 or bud uninjured. They may then be planted in the same manner 

 as recommended for seedling plants. 



The method we have practiced may not be new, or superior to 

 any other ; but as it has been attended with complete success, we 

 offer it to our readers. 



About the first of April, we received a few seeds of Wilmot's 

 early scarlet Rhubarb ; we immediately had a piece of ground pre- 

 pared for its reception. A spot was selected which was light 

 and rich, and exposed to the sun ; it was manured and dug fine, and 

 the seeds planted in drills ; the young plants appeared in a few days, 

 and grew very rapidly. As the plants came up quite thick, we had 

 them thinned out, and let them remain in the seed bed until the final 

 planting out ; we are not confident but the size of the roots would 

 have been greater, and have grown stronger, if they had been trans- 

 planted from the seed bed to another bed, before placing them where 

 they were to remain to produce their stalks ; but as we did not pur- 

 sue this course, we cannot state the actual benefits which would have 

 resulted from the practice. 



The first of August a piece of ground was marked out, in which 

 to place the plants for permanent use. The soil was two and a half 

 feet deep, and light and rich ; it was covered with decomposed hot- 

 bed manure, of the previous spring, and dug in. The bed was 

 then trenched to the whole depth (two and a half feet), the soil that 

 was at the bottom now being at the top ; this w'as again covered with 

 the same kind of manure just mentioned, and the bed again dug 

 over ; after allowing it to settle for a iew days, it was ready for 

 planting. The distance at which the plants were to be placed was 

 then marked out ; this is laid down by various writers, at various 

 distances ; some say four feet apart each way, some five, and others 

 at greater distances. We are confident that the roots, to produce 

 well, require considerable room to extend, more than is- given in 



