THE FORCING PLACE. 7 



of fuel, etc. An inner door entirely excluding light 

 and frost leads into the forcing room. 



Heat is furnished by a small box stove set about 15 

 feet from the entrance. The pipe is carried to a flue 

 at the rear end of the building. To insure as even dis- 

 tribution of heat as possible as well as to economize in 

 fuel the pipe should be placed much lower than shown 

 in the illustration. 



The view shows the cellar filled with roots and heat 

 just started. On Dec. 14, when the flash light was taken, 

 the stalks were just appearing above ground. Twenty- 

 seven days later (Jan. 10) 18 doz. were picked and sold 

 at 70 cents per doz. or $12.60 for the flrst picking. 



"Eeady To Market," is a view of the same cellar 

 just before the second picking (Jan. 17) when twice the 

 amount of the first picking was ready for market. 



Several subsequent pickings were made, after which 

 the roots were removed from the cellar and a second 

 crop was grown in the same manner as the first. 



This small cellar 12 x 50 feet yielded something 

 over $160 worth of rhubarb from the two crops grown 

 in one Winter. 



The House Cellar. — Many growers having roomy 

 house cellars utilize them for the work, in addition to 

 the regular forcing cellar described above. To this 

 practice no objection can be offered by the most fas- 

 tidious, as very little artificial moisture is required and 

 consequently no dampness or objectionable odors are 

 given off, unless the roots are neglected and left to 

 decay after they have ceased bearing. 



In this way the cellar may be utilized at a handsome 

 profit during the Winter months; and the convenience 

 in caring for, and harvesting the crop is no small item 

 to carry to the profit side of the ledger. 



