Rhubarb 35 



field to allow the entry of wagons. In a single tow in 

 the home garden, the plants may be set every 2 feet, A 

 dozen or two good plants should be sufficient for a family. 



Good surface tillage, as for com or potatoes, is all that 

 is demanded. In autimin the bed should be given a 

 heavy dressing of stable manure. This dressing serves the 

 purposes of enriching the soil, preserving the texture of 

 the surface, and affording a winter mulch and protection. 

 Lands heavily mulched do not freeze so deep as those that 

 are left bare, and the plants are likely to start earlier in 

 the spring. This surface mulch may be removed early in 

 the spring and a thorough tillage given the land ; or if the 

 land is in good tilth and free from weeds, it may be forked 

 from the crowns and allowed to lie between the rows until 

 the crop is harvested. Some growers hill up the rows in 

 autumn by means of a plow and do not apply a mulch. 



The commercial rhubarb season is short. It rarely ex- 

 tends over more than two months. The leaves are pulled, 

 and_ they separate readily at their insertion if pulled 

 straight and not twisted or yanked. Only the largest and 

 best leaves are harvested. The leaf-blades are at once 

 trimmed off to prevent wilting or softening of the stalk. 

 Other leaves are allowed to remain unless they are very 

 numerous, in which case the larger part of them are pulled 

 to allow the strength to go to the main ones. After the 

 market season of rhubarb is past, the plants are allowed to 

 grow as they will, and tillage is continued. A heavy crop 

 of rhubarb in any year depends to a large extent on the 

 strong leaf -growth of the year before. 



To renew rhubarb plantations, the roots are sometimes 

 taken up, more or less divided and reset; but it is usually 



