374 THE NEW GARDENING 



suffice to give a crop, but if the plants run up 

 rapidly, producing spindly haulm, they are not likely 

 to pod. 



Potatoes. This is, again, a very easy vegetable to 

 force, given a few inches of light, friable soil over a mild 

 hotbed of manure and leaves. The tubers may be set 

 four inches deep and nine inches apart in rows a foot 

 asunder. Here, as in the Carrot frame, it will be feasible 

 to snatch a crop of Radishes by sowing seed between the 

 rows. An early Potato that does not make a great 

 amount of haulm, such as May Queen, Sharpens Victor 

 or Snowdrop (the last a little later than the other two), 

 should be chosen for frame culture. Those who have 

 large houses frequently grow early Potatoes in pots or 

 shallow boxes. Pots are very convenient, because they 

 can be taken off the reversed plant at intervals, tubers 

 which are large enough for use picked off the root, and 

 the pots replaced. 



Rhubarb. Great lovers of Rhubarb will not be content 

 with expediting matters out of doors by placing bottom- 

 less casks or manure over the stools ; but will want to 

 lift some of the roots and force them under cover. Few 

 things are more easy. In the first place choose a clump 

 which shows three or four plump crowns. If it is about 

 a foot across, well and good. Leave it and its selected 

 companions lying in the open for a few days, fully ex- 

 posed ; if the weather is frosty so much the better, for 

 frosted clumps generally give the earliest produce. 

 Now pack them close together in the hotbed frame or 

 other chosen place and cover them with about four inches 

 of soil. Syringe the bed with lukewarm water daily. 

 When growth begins throw a mat over the frame to 

 keep it dark and warm. Dawe's Challenge is one of 

 the most suitable varieties. By this simple plan Rhubarb 



