CHAP. I. CULINARY VEGETABLES. 141 



a great measure removed by cutting them into small pieces, 

 and frying them, instead of boiling them only, as is more 

 commonly done. 



They are valuable, moreover, for affording a dish at the 

 close of the Rains, a season when frequently Potatoes and other 

 vegetables are scarcely to be had. 



The seed should be sown at the beginning of the Rains, and 

 the plants put out at two feet apart. Any ordinary garden-soil 

 suits them. 



POLYGONACE^E. 



Rheum. 



RHUBARB. 



A vegetable extensively cultivated in Europe, for the delicious 

 tarts and preserves made of its large thick leaf-stalks. 



I have succeeded in raising plants from seed sown in Novem- 

 ber, the leaf-stems of which attained before the Hot season to 

 the length of four inches, arid the thickness of a man's little 

 finger. The seed was sown in a gumlah, and the young plants 

 put out into large pots full of soil well enriched with old cow- 

 manure and wood-ashes; one in each pot. They perished at 

 the commencement of the Hot season. 



There seems, indeed, little probability that Rhubarb raised 

 from seed can ever be cultivated successfully in the plains of 

 India, for seedlings take two years before they become fit to be 

 cut for table use an age they could never attain to here, as 

 the plants will not live through the Hot season. 



But as Rhubarb is cultivated in the Nilgherries, it is not 

 improbable that were plants of one or two years' age brought 

 down thence in October, and planted out, two feet apart, in 

 well-manured ground in a shady situation, and abundantly 

 watered, they would yield a supply of cuttings for the table in 

 February. This might easily be tried, and if found successful 

 would well repay the trouble and expense. 



When in full vigour of growth Rhubarb delights in very rich 

 manure, and requires the most shady situation that can be 

 given it. 



