52 THE NEW RHUBARB CULTURE. 



stalks three to four inches long, with leaves unfolding. 

 In darkness, the plants brought in without freezing were 

 making a little growth, while those which had first been 

 frozen had sprung into rapid growth, there being many 

 excellent, vigorous stalks, some of them 12 to 20 inches 

 long. On these but very little leaf had developed, almost 

 the entire growth being made up of stalk. Some plants 

 had thrown up many small and weak shoots, while others 

 threw up fewer, but more' vigorous and desirable ones. 

 The difference between the frozen and unfrozen plants 

 was surprising, the unfrozen ones having produced but 

 few stalks and only one to three inches long. Although 

 the house in which they were grown is run at a very low 

 temperature, for lettuce, this position underneath the 

 bench near the pipes was a close and warm one. 



January 9th, five large plants and three small ones 

 were placed in the cellar of a dwelling house, in a corner 

 where light could be practically shut off. A furnace 

 stands in the cellar about 15 feet from where the plants 

 were placed. The cellar is a very large one and the 

 temperature in it probably ranges about the same as 

 that of an ordinary cellar without a furnace. At the 

 time the crop was being harvested it ran about 40 de- 

 grees, Fahrenheit. Water stands in parts of the cellar 

 and the ground upon which the plants were placed was 

 wet and muddy. At the same time large roots were 

 placed under the greenhouse bench beside those put in 

 early. All these roots had lain on top of the ground, 

 subjected to repeated freezing and thawing, rain and 

 snow, for more than a month. It seemed probable that 

 they would be much weakened thereby. 



On January 10th, the best stalks from each lot placed 

 in the greenhouse December 8th, and 17th, were pulled 

 and photographed. The product from frozen plants 



