60 ART OF GARDENING. 



have beds carefully prepared early in the spring, and be 

 sown in a light loam with a sunny exposure. If the weather 

 is dry, they require watering, to swell the roots. They 

 should grow rapidly, or they are tough and stringy or corky. 

 Stir in strong manure into the beds, and keep wood-ashes, 

 tobacco-dust, and soot on the surface of the bed, to drive off 

 insects. The seed is put in drills about an inch deep and 

 a foot apart. 



RHUBARB (Rheum). 



This genus of plants contains several varieties. Rhapon- 

 ticum, or Common Rhubarb, is the kind commonly cultivated 

 for its stalks. Rheum undulatum is also cultivated in kitchen 

 gardens. 



Palmatum, or Officinal Rhubarb, is the variety whose 

 root is so valuable for medicine. It is cultivated largely in 

 Turkey, and is a native of China and the East Indies. This 

 variety has never been much cultivated in America. 



The Common Rhubarb requires a light, rich soil, and to 

 be dug to the depth of two spades. It is propagated by the 

 seed or by offshoots. In the spring the plants are brought 

 forward by having stable manure put around them, and 

 being covered by barrels or large tubs. It is much im- 

 proved by cultivation. 



S AL s IF Y ( Tragopogon porrifolius) . 



This plant, known also as the Vegetable Oyster, is much 

 cultivated in Virginia, and cooked there in a variety of ways. 



The seed .should be sown early in spring, in good gar- 

 den earth, in drills an inch deep and about a foot apart. 

 The seeds ripen unequally, and therefore it is safer to sow 

 the seed rather generously. They may be thinned when 

 two or three inches high, so that a small hoe can be passed 

 between them, to keep the earth loose and light. 



