RHUBARB 



5004 



RHYME 



artery of river traffic to the Mediterranean, the 

 chief commercial waui-way. possibly excepting 

 the Danube", leading from Europe to Asia. 



The Rhone is famous for the beauties of its 

 wooded banks, upon which are situated many 

 picturesque old fortresses and chateaus. 



RHUBARB, roo 'barb, more familiarly known 

 jilant, is a perennial herb whose reddish, 

 juicy leafstalks, stewed with sugar, furnish the 

 tart sauce and appetizing filling for pies which 

 wise cooks give their families before the fresh 

 fruits are in season. The plant is botanically 

 related to the sheep sorrel, dock and buck- 

 wheat. 



only within the last hundred years that 

 the stalks have been used in cooking. When 

 it was introduced into England in Queen Eliza- 

 beth's time, the leaves alone were gathered for 

 use as a pot herb, and the roots were valued 

 as medicine. As a matter of fact, rhubarb is 

 not strongly nutritious, 56.6 per cent of its 

 content being water and 40 per cent waste, 

 but its acid quality makes it an admirable 

 spring "tonic." Eaten to excess, however, it 

 tends to make the blood too thin. In many 

 homes it is canned for use in the winter, and 

 by some people the juice is made into a wine. 



The common garden rhubarb came originally 

 from Southern Siberia, but is now cultivated 

 extensively in other cold or temperate coun- 

 tries. Warm climates are not favorable to its 

 growth. As a rule the plant is propagated by 

 dividing the roots of an old plant, although it 

 can also be grown from seed. A mammoth 

 pieplant recently developed by Luther Burbank 

 has leaves measuring three to four feet across. 



The stalks are not ready to pull until two 

 years old, but after that they may be gathered 

 every spring for several years. They are most 

 tender and juicy when raised by the forcing 

 process. The usual method is to set the roots 

 one spring in deep, rich soil, dig them up in 

 the late fall, and then force them either in 

 greenhouse or cellar or in a hotbed improvised 

 out-of-doors by covering the roots with a bar- 

 rel, box or flowerpot, closely banked with ma- 

 nure. The choice product that will be ripe by 

 early spring finds a ready sale. 



In Europe the most common use to which 

 rhubarb is put is as an ornamental plant in 

 gardening, for its huge leaves with their rip- 

 pling outline make most effective borders and 

 backgrounds. There are a number of spetfies 

 grown solely for this purpose. 



The Rhubarb of Pharmacy. The bitter rhu- 

 barb root used as a cathartic has been known 



to the Chinese for over five thousand years, 

 and comes from an Asiatic variety of the plant. 

 The Chinese still supply the highest grade, the 

 true Oriental rhubarb, cultivating the roots for 

 six years before using them. A cheaper and less 

 potent drug is prepared from a similar variety 

 grown in England and some other parts of 

 Europe and exported to America. At one time 

 this was also used in dyeing French silks. 



RHYME, rime, a word variously used in con- 

 nection with poetry. In a wide sense it is 

 taken to mean poetry in general; or more spe- 

 cifically, one of the attributes of such poetry, 

 the identity of sound in the last syllable or 

 syllables of two or more words. At least one 

 accented syllable must be included to make a 

 true rhyme. 



Rhyme is of comparatively late develop- 

 ment, the Greeks and Romans having known 

 nothing of it in their poetry, while in Anglo- 

 Saxon poetry its place as an ornament was 

 taken by alliteration, the identity of initial 

 consonant sounds. To-day, however, most lit- 

 eratures make use of rhyme; in some, indeed, 

 as in French, it is absolutely essential to poetry. 

 In English the vowel sound of at least the final 

 syllable of rhyming words must be the same, 

 and also the consonant sound which follows, if 

 such there be, but the initial sound should by 

 preference be different. Thus, true and blue 

 rhyme; approve and remove; number and 

 slumber; but describe and ascribe do not con- 

 stitute a good rhyme because the scr sound is 

 identical at the beginning of the rhyming syl- 

 lables. It will be noted in the examples of 

 rhyme words given above that in some in- 

 stances the rhyme is in the last syllable only, 

 while in others it includes two syllables. The 

 former kind is single, the latter double, rhyme. 

 There may be, also, a triple rhyme, as in iden- 

 tity, nonentity, but it is seldom made use of in 

 serious verse. 



Of course, the aim of a poet is to make his 

 rhymes perfect, but often there are found in 

 good poetry such combinations as pain, again, 

 or none, own, while some poets take great lib- 

 erties with their rhymes. Thus, in Browning 

 is to be found fabric rhymed with dab brick, 

 while Lowell, in his Fable for Critics, makes 

 use of such forms as irresistible, whist table. 

 These last are, however, humorously intended. 



Rhymes usually occur at the ends of lines, 

 though often they occur in the middle. This 

 form is found in Shelley's 



Then I widen the rent in my windbuilt tent, 

 And the calm rivers, lakes and seas 



