THE WINTER RHUBARB 89 



eager has been the market that the rhubarb has 

 been quite often called by its growers the "king 

 mortgage lifter." Many substantial fortunes 

 have been made by growing it here in California 

 and shipping it to the eastern States during the 

 holiday season when fruits and green vegetables 

 are relatively scarce. 



It retains, as to general appearance, the aspect 

 of the usual stalk of the familiar rhubarb or 

 pieplant of the eastern vegetable garden. But 

 the stalks are of a characteristic rich crimson 

 color, and as brought to the table the sauce made 

 from them is not only delicious in flavor, sug- 

 gesting the strawberry and raspberry, but it is 

 quite devoid of the stringiness or fiberlike texture 

 and the disagreeable "ground taste" of the 

 ordinary pieplant. 



Many people who have hitherto regarded pie- 

 plant as a plebeian dish to be avoided are en- 

 thusiastic in the praise of the new product. 



The crimson winter rhubarb produces not 

 only far larger stalks than the old Xew Zealand 

 prototype, but at least ten times as many of them 

 to each plant. The stalks begin to appear in 

 great abundance early in September and con- 

 tinue to produce a product of unvarying quality 

 for eight to twelve months together — in Cali- 

 fornia throughout the entire vear — instead of 



