RH&NE 



among the towns on its banks are 

 Brigue, Geneva, Lyons, Vienne, 

 Valence, Avignon, and Aries. 

 From the sea to Lyons navigation, 

 though difficult in parts, is active ; 

 above Lyons the traffic is smaller. 

 The Rhone is connected by canal 

 with the Rhine, Loire, Yonne, 

 Seine, and with Marseilles. Between 

 the Swiss frontier and the sea the 

 French government decided in 

 1921 to establish 18 power stations, 

 of which the largest is to be at 

 Genissiat. From them electric 

 current will be supplied to Paris, 

 to the P.L.M. Rly., and to indus- 

 trial undertakings. The river is to 

 be canalised with 30 locks and a 

 barge lift at Genissiat. Its total 

 length is 504 m., about 160 m. 

 being in Switzerland. See Geneva ; 

 Rhine ; Marseilles-Rhone Canal. 



Rhone. Dept. of France. It lies 

 contiguous with the depts. of Saone- 

 et-Loire, Loire, Isere, and Ain, 

 and is the smallest dept. in area 

 save the Seine. It is hilly and has 

 many picturesque tracts, notably 

 in the Monts du Beaujolais, de Ta- 

 rare, and du Lyonnais. The stony 

 soil is generally unfertile, except 

 in the Rhone and Saone valleys, 

 but the vine is successful in the 

 Beaujolais and the S. parts, and 

 the mulberry, used for silkworms, 

 is important. The dept. is chiefly 

 industrial, the great silk industry 

 centring in Lyons, and there are 

 engineering and iron works, muslin, 

 chemical, and glass factories, stone 

 quarries, iron, copper, and coal 

 mines. The rivers include the 

 Rhdne, Saone, Azergues, Vaux- 

 onne, Ardiere, Yzeron, and Garon. 

 The towns include Lyons (the 

 capital), Villefranche, Vaugneray, 

 Tarare, Beaujeu, St. Laurent, 

 Amplepuis, Thizy, and Givors. 

 Its area is 1,104 sq. m. Pop. 

 915,600, of whom 523,800 are in 

 the city of Lyons. 



Rhubarb (from Gr. rheon bar- 

 baron, barbarian rheum). Edible- 

 stalked herbaceous plant of the 

 natural order Polygonaceae, genus 

 Rheum, a native of Siberia. The 

 stalks are stewed and eaten as a 

 sweet, but the roots possess valu- 

 able medicinal properties. Prepara- 

 tions of rhubarb are employed 

 largely for disorders of the stomach 

 and of digestion in children. 

 Rhubarb will flourish in any soil 

 that is not waterlogged. Well- 

 rotted stable manure should be 

 dug deeply into the ground before 

 planting, and basic slag and phos- 

 phate of lime must be applied if the 

 ground is deficient in these neces- 

 sary chemical constituents. Au- 

 tumn planting may be resorted to, 

 but *it is better to plant in the 

 spring-time, and pull no stalks of 

 the rhubarb during the first season. 



6598 



It is a mistake to take too many 

 stems from any particular plant 

 during any one season, as this 

 weakens the root. 



Rhubarb can be forced in the 

 open air by covering the young 

 plants with drain-pipes, or similar 

 articles, and packing the exteriors 

 or bases of these receptacles with 

 fermenting manure. Roots of 

 three-year-old plants may be 

 forced by placing them in a dark 

 position under the staging of a 

 greenhouse, or in a house devoted 

 to the culture of mushrooms. Pro- 

 pagation is usually and simply 

 carried out by a division of the 

 roots, which are severed by a sharp 

 knife into as 

 many pieces as 

 will allot a crown 

 to each fragment. 



Rhubarb may 

 also be raised 

 from seed sown in 

 the autumn in 

 the open' air. 

 though this is not 

 a usual method 

 of increase. There 

 are several vari- 

 eties, one of the 

 most noteworthy 

 of which is Cham- 

 pagne rhubarb, 

 from which, in 

 some localities in 

 England and 

 France, an effervescing beverage is 

 made. This is said to form the 

 basis of many brands of cheap 

 champagne. R. officinale, and some 

 other species, are grown in the 

 margins of shrubberies, in deep 

 rich soil, as ornamental plants, for 

 the sake of their bold leaves. They 

 are useless for edible purposes. 



RHYL. 



Rhubarb leaves are poisonous to 

 animals, and should not be thrown 

 within the reach of cattle. They 

 are equally dangerous to human 

 beings. The stalks of rhubarb are 

 extensively used in the making of 

 jam, and sometimes in the form of 

 pulp for addition to fruit used in 

 jam making. 



Rhuddlan OR RHYDDLAN. Town 

 of Flintshire, Wales. It stands on 

 the Clwyd, 8 m. from Denbigh, with 

 a station on the L. & N.W. Rly. 

 It is famous for its castle, now 

 in ruins. This was built in the 

 llth century, and in it Edward I 

 held a parliament in 1283. S. 

 Mary's Church is an old building. 



Rhubarb. Leaves and flowering 

 spike of B. rhappnticum, the com- 

 mon edible species 



Rhuddlan, Flintshire. Rains of the castle seen from 

 across the river Clwyd 



Frith 



A bridge, dating from the 16th 

 century, leads across the river to 

 Rhuddlan Marsh, where, it is said, 

 Offa of Mercia defeated the Welsh 

 Caradoc in 795. Rhuddlan was 

 once a flourishing seaport. The 

 encroachment of the sand, how- 

 ever, destroyed its prosperity, and 

 the borough privileges given by Ed- 

 ward I fell into disuse. Pop. 1,900. 



Rhumb Line. Straight line 

 described by the course of a ship 

 sailing steadily towards the same 

 point of the compass. Ocean routes 

 are usually plotted on maps drawn 

 on Mercator's projection, because 

 the chief value of that map is that 

 the straight line drawn between 

 any two points preserves the same 

 compass bearing, i.e. is a rhumb 

 line. The word rhumb is a variant 

 of Lat. rhombus. See Navigation. 



Rhyl. Urban dist. and watering- 

 place of Flintshire, Wales. It 

 stands at the mouth of the Clwyd, 

 30 m. from 

 Chester, with a 

 station on the 

 L. & N.W. Rly. 

 The attractions 

 include good 

 sands, pier, and 

 winter gardens, 

 and there are 

 several e s t a b- 

 lishments for 



Rhyl. Seal of the 



urban district 



council 



