280 Uses of Rhubarb Stalks. 



to a hemisphere or semi-cylinder, either in the upper or 



lower surfaces, as thereby to make the sun's rays converge so 



much, as to scorch the plants or trees they fall upon. I have 



observed those white clouds which appear in summer, acting 



as if they were so many mirrors, and occasioning excessive 



heat in particular places, and also a kind of hollow clouds full 



of hail and snow, during the continuance of which the heat 



was extreme ; after this came a sharp cold, and then the clouds 



discharged their hail in great quantities, to which succeeded a 



moderate warmth. Frozen concave clouds, therefore, are the 



cause both of a vigorous heat and a succeeding cold : and such 

 ... ... 



sudden changes, it is evident, must be very injurious to trees 



and plants of all kinds. Against this enemy to gardeners, I 

 know of no remedy, and therefore leave it to some abler per- 

 son than, Sir, &c. 



Robert Sutherland. 



Gaddeston Park, Hertfordshire, 

 January 31. 1827. 



Art, VII. On the various Uses of Rhubarb Stalks. By 

 Mr. James Luckcock, of Edgbaston, near Birmingham. 



Mr. Luckcock refers to the Monthly Magazine for Septem- 

 ber 1817, August 1818, and November 1819, for what he has 

 said on the culture of rhubarb ; he complains that the plant 

 is not treated of in the third edition of Nicol's Kalendar, but 

 in Mr. Nicol's time the plant was little attended to ; and he 

 states that he has three sorts of which he knows the name of 

 only one, called the Turkey Rhubarb, Z2heum palmatum. The 

 produce of this, according to his account, is much less than 

 that of the other two sorts, which, from sketches he has sent 

 us, are obviously some of the hybrid entire-leaved varieties. 

 Offering Mr. Luckcock our best thanks for his communication, 

 we give the following extract from it, as the most likely to 

 interest our readers : — 



Since the publication of the documents in the Monthly 

 Magazine, the increase of produce and demand in this neigh- 

 bourhood has been twenty-fold, perhaps fifty ; and I feel a 

 proud gratification, when I am sometimes told that this in- 

 crease has probably been chiefly owing to my statements. This 

 has induced me to continue my observations, and to endeavour 

 to point the public attention to its various merits. I need not 

 appeal to the experience of others for its delicious flavour, but 

 I can, from long attention, pronounce it to be equal to the 



