200 



PERENNIAL CROPS 



to four feet apart in the row. Usually rhubarb is planted in checks 

 so that it can be cultivated both ways. The roots should be set 

 so that the crowns are level with, or slightly below, the surface of 

 the ground. The soil in which the rhubarb is planted should be 

 rich, deep and well supplied with humus, for the crop requires an 

 enormous amount of plant food and moisture to develop a maxi- 

 mum product. 



Tillage and Fertilizing. — The plantation should be given thor- 

 ough tillage, and heavy applications of manure should be made 

 every fall or spring. Fall applications are usually placed immedi- 



FiG. 123. — Rhubarb plantation in Union County, Illinois 



ately over the crown of the plant, and raked slightly away in early 

 spring so as not to interfere with the growth of the leaf stalks. 

 If spring applications are to be made, it is sometimes the practice 

 to plow out a furrow on one side of the row late in fall, throwing 

 the earth away from the plants. Very early in the spring this 

 furrow is filled with coarse manure and the earth that was thrown 

 out in the fall is plowed back over the manure. 



Harvesting. — No crop should be gathered from a rhubarb 

 plantation until the third year after planting, for that amount of 

 time is required for the roots to gain sufficient strength to maintain 



