278 VEGETABLE GROWING PROJECTS 



4. Hoiv many pound bunches should be produced on an acre of landf 



W-VG : 223. 



5. What is the composition and food value of asparagus? 



Project XIX. Growing Rhubarb 



Rhubarb, known also as pie plant, belongs to the buckwheat 

 family. Rhubarb and buckwheat are the chief crop plants of 

 this family. Dock, knotweed, and field sorrel are weeds which 

 belong here. Rhubarb is a native of Asia. 



Rhubarb is a perennial plant with a large root system and 

 more or less woody underground stems. These underground 

 stems are used in propagating the plant. The leaves come 

 up from this underground shoot in the early spring, and later 

 the shoots appear which bear the flowers. By removing the flower 

 shoots the nourishment which would go into them is stored in 

 the underground system, thus making more growth there. The 

 leaves are large, heart shaped at base, and with prominent veins. 

 The edible portions of the plant are the enlarged leaf stalks. 

 The quality of these is best early in the spring. 



Injuries to rhubarb by the rhubarb curculio are caused by feed- 

 ing and egg laying in the leaf stalks. The larvse cannot live in rhu- 

 barb owing to the unusual amount of sap, and if wild plants 

 about rhubarb are destroyed, the opportunity for their increase 

 will be lessened. 



1. To what family does rhubarb belong f 



2. How many kinds of stems does the rhubarb possess? 



3. What part of the plant is used for food purposes ? 



4. What insects affect rhubarb? CL:251. 



5. Why is the curculio so serious a pest? CL : 251. 



