RHUBARB 197 
fusion. Whatever strain or variety is used, the ideal 
plant for forcing is one which is vigorous in growth and 
which produces a moderate number of large, pink stalks 
rather than many small ones. Plants grown from seed 
of the same plant are extremely variable. If the best 
plants from a large number of seedlings were selected 
and multiplied from year to year by the division of the 
roots, superior plants would soon be available for 
forcing purposes. 
Fig. 66.—A simple house in Maryland for the forcing of rhubarb. 
Growing roots—Rhubarb is generally forced from 
roots taken from plantations which have produced 
several crops. The stems of plants which are four or five 
years old are much smaller than those on two and three- 
year roots. When old roots are used for forcing, the 
stems are necessarily smaller than is preferred by the 
market, but inasmuch as the old plantation is no longer 
satisfactory the gardener concludes that it is better to 
force the crown, and thus make an additional profit, than 
to plow the field and not attempt to save the roots. For 
example, while a superior forced product may be ob- 
tained from three-year-old roots (Fig. 67), the better 
business proposition may be to use the roots in the field 
until they fail to make a good financial showing and then 
force them, excepting, of course, the buds that are neces- 
