106 GARDENING FOR YOUNG AND OLD. 



in the row. As in raising celery plants out of doors, it 

 is impossible to make the land too rich. I have worked 

 in well-rotted manure at the rate of one hundred two- 

 horse loads per acre, and it pays to do so. Few people 

 understand how much manure land will hold. An acre 

 of soil, ten inches deep, weighs about two million pounds; 

 if you work in one hundred tons of manure per acre, 

 there will be only one pound of manure to ten pounds of 

 soil; and you can put one hundred loads of manure on an 

 acre and work it so thoroughly that one could not tell, 

 without careful examination, that the land had been ma- 

 nured at all. That is the way to prepare land for raising 

 celery and rhubarb plants. On such land, if sown as 

 early as possible in the spring, and the plants carefully 

 hoed and kept entirely free from weeds, the plants will 

 be large enough to set out in their permanent bed the fol- 

 lowing spring. 



Ehubarb is more generally propagated by a division 

 of the roots, than from the seeds. When propagated 

 from the roots, divide up the old root so as to leave one 

 bud or crown on each piece. The roots can be set out 

 in the permanent bed either in autumn or early in spring; 

 the fall perhaps is the preferable time, especially in the 

 Southern States. If the permanent bed is made from 

 plants raised from seed, the spring is the better time. 

 Whether made from roots or seedling plants, the perma- 

 nent bed cannot be made too rich. A hundred loads of 

 manure per acre, is none too much, and the soil should 

 be thoroughly worked to a depth not less than ten inches. 

 Set out the roots or plants in rows four feet apart each 

 way; this will require two thousand seven hundred and 

 twenty-one per acre. Make the rows straight, and set 

 out the roots so that the crown is two or three inches be- 

 low the surface. The first year no stalks should be 

 pulled, keeping the ground thoroughly cultivated and 

 free from weeds. A row of radishes might be sown between 



