WINTER RHUBARB 245 



the winter, and continue productivity through- 

 out the entire year, because of the reappearance 

 of a latent tendency to perennial bearing; and 

 this revived tendency is thoroughly fixed. As 

 already stated, all the plants retain this tendency 

 when grown from seed, however they may vary 

 in other regards. So there is no analogy what- 

 ever between the winter-bearing habit of these 

 new rhubarbs and the abnormal habit of winter 

 bearing that may be forced on an individual 

 plant of the old variety by growing it under hot- 

 house conditions. 



Incidentally, the fact that the old rhubarb to 

 be forced successfully in the greenhouse must be 

 frozen, furnishes another interesting illustration 

 of the value of a period of absolute rest or dor- 

 mancy for a plant, and will suggest analogies 

 with other cases of the same kind elsewhere cited. 

 Apparently, the tissues of the plant root, having 

 been frozen even for a brief period, have no way 

 of estimating the length of time during which 

 they have remained dormant, and thus are ready 

 to respond to the climatic conditions about them 

 when thawed out. So, finding themselves in the 

 atmosphere of the springtime, they begin their 

 regular springtime growth. 



In a sense, the artifice of the gardener may be 

 said to fool the tissues of the plant, and to cause 



