ON FORCING. 931 



but the first-named is the best in quality, being wonderfully 

 mealy when cooked as compared with most kinds of forced 

 Potatoes. 



Rhubarb. — Although this must be classed as a vegetable, it 

 is always used as a fruit. Sometimes amateurs and others find 

 a little difficulty in getting the plants to start into growth when 

 put in heat to force ; but if the crowns are taken up at the end 

 •of October or early in November in good clumps with a good 

 ball of soil attached, placed in a cool shed for a week or so, 

 and then transferred into a mushroom-house or under the stages 

 of a warm greenhouse, the roots being covered with ordinary 

 garden soil, they will quickly commence growing, and throw up 

 a plentiful supply of leaf-stalks. Strong clumps that have been 

 about two or three years undisturbed should be selected. Very 

 old and massive clumps are not so desirable, as they have formed 

 big far-reaching roots that will not lift with a good ball of soil. 

 At the same time, these strong and old-established plants are 

 first rate for forcing where they stand, by means of barrels with 

 the ends knocked out, with a cover placed over the top, and the 

 whole covered with litter or strawy manure, as mentioned for 

 Seakale. If the barrels and manure are removed about the 

 middle of April late growth will be made, and the plants will 

 be sc'arcely, if at all, weakened by the forcing ; in fact, we have 

 thus forced old plants for eight years consecutively without any 

 signs of exhaustion. 



Seakale. — Where ground is limited, as it . frequently is in 

 towns, it is much the cheaper plan to purchase crowns of this 

 popular and very useful vegetable for forcing. Strong crowns 

 are usually advertised in most of the horticultural papers from 

 November to March, or later ; these may be purchased in quan- 

 tity at. a moderate cost per hundred crowns, and all that are 

 not required for immediate forcing can be laid their full length 

 in the soil outside, with only the tips of the crowns out, until 

 wanted for successional supplies. In the country, where plenty 

 of land is available, strong crowns can be grown. more cheaply 

 than they can be purchased ; and if these are lifted in November, 

 and laid in soil as above described until wanted for forcing, 

 successional batches can be put in the mushroom- house to force 

 even during severe frosts. The mode of operation is to place a 

 quantity of crowns in a mushroom-house, or other warm structure 

 from which light can be excluded, and with a temperature ranging 

 from 5Sdeg. to 6odeg. The roots, or crowns (as they are usually 

 termed by gardeners), are laid in fairly good sandy soil their full 

 length, the crowns being just above the surface and about 6in. 

 apart. Not much water is required by the roots, but care must 

 be taken that they do not suffer for want of water, otherwise 

 the growth will be tough and stringy. A nice moist growing 



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