282 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



Black Spanish. The excellence of the radish de- 

 pends mainly on the rapidity of its growth, giving 

 freshness and crispness. The Short-top Scarlet 

 may be sown as early in the spring as the ground 

 can be fitted, or by "the middle of March. The 

 ground must be rich, well worked, and, if in a warm 

 and protected border, the plants will be the better 

 for an early crop. Some gardeners sow them in 

 drills between the rows of onions, the radishes get- 

 ting their growth and being removed before the room 

 is required for tlie onions. If successive crops of 

 radishes are desired, they may be sowed every two 

 weeks from March until May, always remembering 

 that the late-sown ones should be of the kind pre- 

 ferred above for summer. Radishes are frequently 

 grown in frames or in hotbeds, and, if of good qual- 

 ity, are always acceptable, and by many considered 

 a luxury after the passing away of a severe winter. 



RHUBARB or PIE-PLANT. Rheum. 



There are tliree varieties of this plant cultivated; 

 the Rheum Rhaponticum and Rheum Unclulatum, for 

 the sake of the leaf-stems, and the Rheum Palmalum, 

 which is chiefly grown for the sake of its root, so 

 extensively used in medicine. 



Rhubarb may be propagated by offsets taken early 

 in the spring, or from seed sown in March or April. 

 Wet weather is the most proper time for transplant- 

 ing, and the second year is the most critical time 

 with the young plants. The roots of the Palmatum 

 should remain six or seven years before they are 

 taken from the earth, as they require a long time to 

 reach perfection. The plants of all these kinds must 

 have a deep, rich soil, as the size of the stems of 

 tiiose used for cooking, and the roots of the kind 

 cultivated for medicine, are mainly depending on 

 this. The English gardeners have produced one or 

 two varieties of the Rhaponticum, the Giant Rhu- 

 barb and the Victoria, much superior to the old kinds 



