Rhubarb. 291 



large scale it is a good plan to leave at intervals in the field 

 spaces wide enough to allow a waggon to be drawn down for 

 convenience in loading. 



Forcing. Rhubarb forcing is very easy and simple. If the 

 roots are lifted after the leaves have died down in the autumn, 

 and put in any place which has a temperature of from 50 to 60 

 degrees, growth will immediately begin again. This prompt 

 response to an increased temperature is even more marked 

 and vigorous when the roots have been frozen before being 

 introduced into heat. Darkness is not essential, but the 

 stalks come longer, straighter, and of a better colour and 

 appearance when grown in complete darkness, and therefore 

 in forcing for market light is carefully excluded. For the 

 earliest supplies roots may be put in a shed or cellar, under a 

 greenhouse bench, in a boiler house, in frames or pits, on a bed 

 of warm manure in the open, or in fact in any place where the 

 necessary protection, warmth, and darkness can be obtained. 

 Where forcing is done on a large scale, special cheaply con- 

 structed houses, warmed by hot-water pipes, are employed, 

 though this is a matter of convenience and economy of labour 

 and not of necessity. Rhubarb is also forced as it stands in the 

 ground, without disturbing the roots, and though it cannot be 

 got so early in this way as when the roots are lifted, the stalks 

 come much finer and are generally of better quality. 



Forcing may therefore be divided into two distinct methods 

 (1) Lifting the roots and placing them in artificially heated 

 structures; (2) Applying to the roots where they grow a 

 covering to protect from the weather and exclude light, with 

 linings of fermenting materials to generate warmth and excite 

 growth. Both systems are good when properly carried out, 

 and a judicious combination of the two would appear to offer 

 advantages to the grower whose business requires a steady 

 supply in regular succession. In either system it is useless to 

 expect profitable results from unsuitable roots, either those 

 which lack maturity and strength or those which are enfeebled 

 by age and too close pulling, they should be grown three years 

 from seed or two years from planting, have had good cultiva- 

 tion and an abundant supply of rich food, and few or no leaves 

 should have been pulled from them in the preceding season. 



