674 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



preferable method, as the flower-stalks of plants cannot, like the leaves, be considered as preparing a re- 

 serve of nourishment for the roots. 



4202. Blanching. The advantages of blanching the stalks of rhubarb for culinary purposes have been 

 pointed out by T. Hare, Esq. {Hort. Trans, vol. ii.) " These are twofold, namely, the desirable qualities 

 of improved appearance and flavor, and a saving in the quantity of sugar necessary to render it agreeable 

 to the palate, since the leaf-stalks, when blanched, are infinitely less harsh than those grown under the 

 full influence of light in an open situation." It may either be blanched by earthing up the roots early in 

 spring, or earthen pots or covers may be used, as in blanching sea-kale. 



4203. To force rhubarb. Two methods are described in the Hort. Trans, vol. iii. The 

 first is by Judd, of Edmonton, who states, that his first attempt was made by covering 

 plants of the rheum Iiybridum with common garden-pots, number twelves, having their 

 holes stopped. These were covered with fermenting dung ; and the plants came very 

 fine and quickly ; but were much broken by the sides and tops of the pots. " After it 

 was all well up, the dung and pots were entirely taken off, and large hand-glasses were 

 substituted in their stead, thickly covered with mats every night, and in dull weather. 

 This process I found greatly to improve their flavor, and it gave me a regular supply 

 till that in the open air was ready for use. The follo-wing year I had large pots made 

 on purpose, vs ithout holes, but these broke the shoots almost as much as the first, for this 

 sort of rhubarb grows so very luxuriantly, that it is impatient of such confinement." 

 He afterwards enclosed and covered his bed ^vith open frame-work, around and on 

 which, he placed the dung, and with this treatment, he says, " the rhubarb has come up 

 very regularly, of excellent quality, and wants far less attention than was required by my 

 former method ; for the frame- work renders hand-glasses, or any other cover, unnecessary. 

 Care should be taken to lay the dung in such a manner that the top may be partly or 

 wholly taken off at any time for the purpose of gathering or examination, without dis- 

 turbing the sides. That this is a superior method of forcing the rheum hybridum, this 

 year's experience has satisfied me ; but still the forcing by pots will answer very well for 

 any of the smaller growing species. I have never found any difference between using 

 dung fresh from the stable, and that which had undergone fermentation, provided it was 

 not sufi^ered to heat violently after its application to the frame. I do not permit the in- 

 ternal heat of the hollow space, above the plants, to rise above 60°, between 55° and 60** 

 being the proper medium. To those who dislike the trouble of either frames or pots, it 

 may be useful to know that rhubarb will come in much quicker, by being covered about 

 six inches thick, with light litter ; care should be taken, in putting it on, and removing it, 

 that no injury be done to the plants." 



4204. Knight has forced the rhubarb, and gives the following rationale of the principles on which his 

 practice is founded. " The root of every perennial herbaceous plant contains within itself, during win- 

 ter, all the organisable matter, which it expends in the spring in the formation of its first foliage and flower- 

 stems ; and it requires neither food nor light to enable it to protrude these, but simply heat and water : and 

 if the root be removed entire, as soon as its leaves become lifeless, it wiU be found to vegetate, after being 

 jijeplanted, as strongly as it would have done, if it had retained its first position. These circumstances led 

 Die, in the last winter, to dig up the roots of many plants of the common rhubarb (which I had raised 

 from cuttings in the preceding spring), and to place them in a few large and deep pots, each pot being 

 made to receive as many as it would contain. Some fine sandy loam was then washed in, to fill entirely 

 the interstices between the roots, the tops of which were so placed as to be level with each other, and 

 about an inch below the surface of the mould in the pots, which were covered with other pots of the same 

 size, inverted upon them : being then placed in a vinery (in a situation where nothing else could be made 

 to thrive on account of want of light), and being copiously supplied with water, the plants vegetated rapidly 

 and strongly ; and from each pot I obtained three successive crops, the leaf-stalks of the two first being 

 crowded so closely as nearly to touch each other over the whole surface of the pots. As soon as the third 

 crop of leaves was broken off, and a change of roots became necessary, those taken from the pots were 

 planted in the open ground, their tops being covered about an inch deep with mould, and I have reason to 

 believe, from present appearances, that they will live and recover strength, if given a year of rest to be fit 

 for forcing again. Should they, however, perish, it is of very little consequence ; as year-old roots, raised 

 from cuttings or even from seeds, sown in autumn in rich soil, will be found sufficiently strong for 

 use. The heat of a hot-bed, a kitchen, or other room, and, on the approach of spring (probably at any 

 period after the middle of January), a cellar, wiU aftbrd a sufficiently high temperature ; and the advan- 

 tage in all cases will be that of obtaining from one foot of surface as much produce as in the natural state 

 of growth of the plants would occupy twenty feet ; and in the shady space of the vinery or peach-house, 

 not applicable to other pui-poses, and" without incurring any additional expense in fuel, or doing injury to 

 the soil, a succession of abundant crops may be raised." 



4205. Taking the stalks. Remove a little earth, and bending down the leaf you would remove, slip it off 

 from the crown, without breaking or using the knife. The stalks are fit to use when the leaf is half- 

 expanded ; but a larger produce is obtained by letting them remain till in full expansion, as is practised 

 by the market-gardeners. The stalks are tied in bundles of a dozen and upwards, and thus exposed 

 for sale. 



4206. To save seed. Leave one or two of the strongest flower-stalks to perfect their seeds, which they 

 will do in July and August. 



SuBSECT. 2. Pomjnon and Gourd. — Cucurbita, L. Moncec. Monad. L. and Cucur- 

 bitacece, J. Potiron and Pastisson, Fr. ; Kiirbiss, Ger. ; and Popone, Ital. 



4207. Of the pomjnon and gourd tribe there are six species in cultivation, natives of 

 India and the East, all tender or half-hardy annuals, but producing fruit in the open air 

 in Britain in the v/armest period of our summers. 



4208. The pumpkin, pumpion, or, more correctly, jwmpion, is the C- Pepo, L. (Pastis- 

 son, Fr.); a native of the Levant, and introduced in 1570. Tlois is the melon or millon 

 of our early horticulturiBts, the true melon being formerly distinguished, by the name of 



