HINTS AND HELPS. 129 



rhubarb is high manuring. Both plants are gross feed- 

 ers. They produce so many stalks and leaves and they 

 grow so rapidly that they require a liberal application 

 of manure every year. Quickness of growth is con- 

 ducive to the quality and tenderness in any edible vege- 

 table, and this cannot be obtained in a poor soil. 



Rhubarb needs a deep and very fertile soil, and it 

 is useless to expect to grow it in a thin, dry soil, unless 

 under irrigation. Not that it needs wet ground by any 

 means, but a soil retentive of moisture and rather in- 

 clined to clay; though good rhubarb can be grown in 

 quite a sandy soil if it be well manured. No amount of 

 fertilizer we have ever tried will take the place of stable 

 manure with this plant. The organic matter in the 

 manure making the soil more retentive of moisture, 

 makes it indispensable when large and succulent stalks 

 are desired. 



The stalks of rhubarb are excellent substitutes for 

 fruit, and the culture of this plant may therefore be 

 commended to farmers who have taken up new places. 

 By sowing rhubarb seed they can supply themselves with 

 a substitute for fruit several years before they can bring 

 trees, vines, and bushes into bearing. 



A grower whose small patch produces rhubarb of 

 enormous size, explains his success from his practice 

 of throwing soapsuds over the ground on washing days. 

 He has sold $30 worth from the patch of two and one- 

 half rods in a single season. Manure from the hogpen is 

 also applied and would no doubt of itself produce a good 

 yield. 



Profits from the outdoor crop are difficult to estimate 

 because so much depends upon earliness. All the cream 

 of the product comes from the early part of the crop. 

 Rhubarb at five to 10 cents per pound is one of the 



