KHU 



[693 ] 



EHU 



Tobolsk, Gigantic, Victoria (best), and 

 Bucks, or Elford. 



The Soil best suited to it is light, rich, 

 deep, unshaded, and moderately moist. 



Sowing. It may be propagated by 

 cuttings, but usually by seed. Sow soon 

 after it is ripe, in September or October, 

 in drills three feet apart, and an inch 

 deep, the plants to remain where raised ; 

 for although they will bear removing, yet 

 it always checks and somewhat lessens 

 their growth. When they make their ap- 

 pearance in the spring, thin to six or 

 eight inches asunder, and let the surface 

 of the ground about them be loosened 

 with the hoe. At the close of summer, 

 when it can be determined which are the 

 strongest plants, finally thin to four feet, 

 or the Gigantic and Victoria to six. Break 

 down the flower-stems as often as they are 

 produced. In autumn remove the de- 

 cayed leaves, and point in a little well- 

 putrefied stable-dung, and earth up the 

 stools. In the spring, hoe the bed, and as 

 the stalks when blanched are much more 

 delicate in taste, require less sugar to be 

 rendered palatable, and are greatly im- 

 proved in appearance, dig a trench be- 

 tween the rows, and the earth from it 

 place about a foot thick over the stool. 

 This covering must be removed when the 

 cutting ceases, and the plants allowed to 

 grow at liberty. As the earth in wet sea- 

 sons is apt to induce decay, the covering 

 may be advantageously formed of coal- 

 ashes or drift-sand. Chimney-pots and 

 butter-firkins make good coverings for 

 blanching. 



To obtain Seed. Two -year- old plants 

 often produce seed, but in their third 

 year always. It must be gathered as soon 

 as ripe, and great care taken that none is 

 scattered over the beds, for the plants 

 thence produced often spring up, and 

 greatly injure the old plants by growing 

 unobserved amongst them. 



Forcing. Plant a single row three feet 

 apart in ground that has been trenched 

 two spades deep, and dressed with well- 

 putrefied dung at the time. The forcing 

 may commence in December ; first cover 

 either with sea-kale or common garden- 

 pots (twelves), but chimney-pots are still 

 better, the leaf-stalks becoming much 

 longer and finer, and envelope them with 

 fermenting dung. A frame is much less 

 objectionable, formed by driving stakes 

 into the ground on each side of the bed, 

 alternating with the plants. These are to 



be three feet high above ground, and the 

 space between the two rows of stakes two 

 feet at the bottom, but approaching each 

 other, and fastened by cross pieces, so as 

 to be only fifteen inches apart at top. To 

 the sides and top stout lathes are fixed, 

 as in the accompanying sketch, to pre- 

 vent the dung falling upon the plants. 





The dung may be either fresh, or that 

 which has already undergone fermenta- 

 tion, placed all round the frame eighteen 

 inches thick, and the top covered with 

 long litter. The temperature in the in- 

 terior should have a range from 55 to 

 60. If it rises higher, two or three 

 large holes made through the top soon 

 correct it. 



Ehubarb may be forced without either 

 pots or frame, by merely covering the 

 plants six inches deep with light litter, 

 care being taken that the plants are not 

 injured. 



Mr. Knight's mode of forcing is to 

 place in the winter as many plants as 

 necessary in large, deep pots, each pot 

 receiving as many as it can contain, and 

 the interstices entirely filled up by fine, 

 sandy loam, washed in. The tops of the 

 roots are placed on a level with each 

 other, and about an inch below the sur- 

 face. These being covered with inverted 

 pots of the same size, may be placed in 

 a vinery or hotbed, and on the approach 

 of spring, any time after January, any 

 room or cellar will be sufficiently warm. 

 If copiously supplied with water, the 

 plants vegetate rapidly and vigorously, 

 and each pot will produce three succes- 

 sional cuttings, the first two being the 

 most plentiful. As soon as the third is 

 gathered, the roots may be changed, and 

 those removed replanted in the ground, 

 when they will attain sufficient strength 

 to be forced again in a year's time. If 

 not, it is of little consequence, for year- 

 old roots raised from cuttings, or even 

 seed sown in autumn, are sufficiently 

 strong for use. 



Propagation by Division. Mr. Eogers, 

 a successful cultivator, says, that when 

 the rhubarb is propagated by the root, 

 care must be taken to retain a bud on 



