88 THE NEW RHUBARB CULTURE. 



ing beds. The growth of the plant may be considerably 

 hastened by a simple covering six inches deep of light, 

 strawy manure, taking care not to cover them so deeply 

 as to cause the plants to decay. It sometimes happens 

 that a gain of a few days in supplying the local market 

 will increase the total receipts from the rhubarb planta- 

 tion by one-third. The price will sometimes drop within 

 a week from 10 cents per pound at retail to three or 

 four cents, and all the profit is made by the man who 

 gets the top prices. In city markets the difference be- 

 tween the very early prices and those a little later is 

 not so pronounced on account of competition of green- 

 house and southern rhubarb. But in many of the smaller 

 cities, the supply is entirely from outdoor growth, and 

 the earliest stalks are bought eagerly and at a high price. 



A Plan of Forcing sometimes practiced is to trans- 

 plant the hills into large deep pots, the space around 

 the roots being filled up with sandy loam and the pot 

 set in the cellar where the temperature can be raised 

 sufficiently to start vegetation. As soon as the heat 

 is applied the plants will begin to start, each pot will 

 produce two or three cuttings. After the third cutting 

 the roots may be taken up and replanted where they 

 will begin growing again without having suffered very 

 serious injury in the process. If there is a sufficient 

 supply of roots dug the pots can be refilled and another 

 early crop grown. 



A Practical Way to blanch stalks in spring is to throw 

 up the soil with a plow about a foot thick over the 

 hill. Nearly the whole stalk will then be blanched and 

 more delicate in color and flavor. This covering of 

 earth must be leveled down when the cutting ceases. 

 Keeping up the leveling process will dispose of most of 

 the weeds. The leaves after cutting, if spread on the 



