688 CONDIMENTACEOUS ESCULENTS. 



present time are : the Elford^ with scarlet stalks, for an early crop ; Myatfs 

 Victoria, for a main crop, and it is also the best for forcing ; and Rheum 

 australe D. Dow., syn. R. Embdi WaL, for a late crop. The latter has 

 an excellent flavour, somewhat resembling that of apples. To ensure the 

 flavour in pies and puddings, a portion of the stalks should always be put in 

 without being peeled. 



1551. Propagation and culture. By seed is the best mode when the soil 

 is rich and deep, because the tap-root penetrates at once to a great depth, 

 and the plant is less likely afterwards to suffer from drought ; but it will 

 grow quite well by division, which is the most certain mode of continuing 

 particular varieties. The soil being deeply trenched and richly manured, a 

 few seeds may be deposited in drills two feet apart for the Elford, and three feet 

 for the other sorts ; and nearly the same distance may be allowed in the rows. 

 When the plants come up, reduce the patches to single plants, and, with the 

 usual routine culture, one or two leaves from each plant may be gathered the 

 second year, three or more the third, and several every year for a number of 

 years afterwards ; though as the number of buds on the crowns of the roots 

 increase, the leaves will be smaller. The flower-stems should be cut down 

 as soon as they appear, unless seed is wanted. Some persons prefer the 

 leaves partially blanched, and for this purpose place a sea-kale pot over each 

 plant, but without the cover ; others have grown it in chimney-pots for the 

 same purpose, and find also an increased produce from the greater length of 

 stalk. The progress of the Elford, or any other early variety, may be greatly 

 accelerated in spring by covering each plant with a common hand-glass, or 

 with the substitute (figs. 111113, in p. 172) invented by Mr. Forsyth. In 

 gathering the leaves, remove a little soil, bend them down, and slip them off, 

 without injuring the buds at their base, and without bruising the stalks or 

 knife. The stalk is fit to use when the disk of the leaf is half expanded ; 

 but a larger produce and a fuller flavour are obtained by waiting till the leaf 

 is fully grown. One plant allowed to run will produce abundance of seed, 

 which ripens in August, and will keep a year. 



Forcing the rhubarb. See 1098. 



1552. Substitutes for the tart rhubarb may be found in every other species 

 of the genus, not even excepting the supposed medicinal species, R. palma- 

 tum; in the stalks of the oxalis crenata (1446), of the sorrel (1458), and 

 of the different species of dock, which, according to Cobbett, are sent to 

 market for that purpose in America. 



SUBSECT. II. The Angelica, Elecampane, Samphire, and Caper. 



1553. The Angelica, Angelica Archangelica ., is an umbelliferous bien- 

 nial, a native of England, in moist situations in good soil, but rare, and cul- 

 tivated in gardens for their leaves, and the tender flower-stalks, which were 

 formerly blanched like celery. They are now chiefly candied with sugar by 

 the confectioners ; and in Sweden and Norway, the leaves and stalks are 

 eaten raw, or boiled with meat and fish ; and the seeds are used to flavour 

 ardent spirits. The time for gathering the stalks is May, and if the plant 

 be then cut down. a second crop will be produced; and if the flower-stems 

 be cut off as fast as they appear, the plant, though a biennial, will last 

 several years. Seed is produced in abundance, and will keep three or four 

 years. 



1554. Substitutes for the angelica are to be found in the alisanders (1523), 



