RHUBARB 197 



fusion. Whatever strain or variety is used, the ideal 

 plant for forcing is one which is vigorous in growth and 

 which produces a moderate number of large, pink stalks 

 rather than many small ones. Plants grown from seed 

 of the same plant are extremely variable. If the best 

 plants from a large number of seedlings were selected 

 and multiplied from year to year by the division of the 

 roots, superior plants would soon be available for 

 forcing purposes. 



Fig. 66. A simple house in Maryland for the forcing of rhubarb. 



Growing roots. Rhubarb is generally forced from 

 roots taken from plantations which have produced 

 several crops. The stems of plants which are four or five 

 years old are much smaller than those on two and three- 

 year roots. When old roots are used for forcing, the 

 stems are necessarily smaller than is preferred by the 

 market, but inasmuch as the old plantation is no longer 

 satisfactory the gardener concludes that it is better to 

 force the crown, and thus make an additional profit, than 

 to plow the field and not attempt to save the roots. For 

 example, while a superior forced product may be ob- 

 tained from three-year-old roots (Fig. 67), the better 

 business proposition may be to use the roots in the field 

 until they fail to make a good financial showing and then 

 force them, excepting, of course, the buds that are neces- 



