02 THE NEW RHUBARB CULTURE. 



year in order to have enough mature phmts ready for 

 forcing and to renew the outdoor plantations which are 

 plowed up every three or four years, or as soon as the 

 stalks get too small for hunching, and a new plantation 

 is set on fresh land. The cold frames are of a common 

 style except that the sides are fully two and one-half 

 feet high to allow for growth of the rhuharh stalk. They 

 are illustrated on page 80. Two-year-old phmts are 

 packed into frames as closely as possible and the spaces 

 filled with earth and manure. Sashes are put on early 

 in February and the crop gets to market well ahead of 

 the field-grown product. It is marketed in the same 

 way as the open-air crop, but with more care in cleaning 

 and bunching. 



For tlie Waslbington Market. — The most southern 

 district in which rhubarb is grown in large acreage, is 

 the market gardening section of Maryland, supplying the 

 city of Washington. Many of the gardeners raise from 

 one to three acres, and the aggregate is large. The plant 

 seems to thrive, and there is always a surplus of the 

 product for early shipment to the various northern cities. 

 By using hothouses, hotbeds . and cold frames, assisted 

 by the warm climate, some of the growers obtain a very 

 early and profitable crop. 



A leading grower of this section, Mr. Elias B. Eowell, 

 writes: "A well drained but moist loam seems to suit 

 rhul)arb the best. Tlie plant will be killed by standing 

 Avater, l)ut liaving a rank habit of growth it requires an 

 abundance of moisture. 



"The early rhubarb sells the highest. Hence a south- 

 ern exposure and protection from north and west winds 

 are desirable. The people in this neighborhood are mar- 

 ket gardeners and small truckers growing quite a variety 

 of crops. Hence there are no very large fields of rhubarb 



