RhuharJ) 



33 



lights in a deep rich soil. Since its value depends on the 

 succulence and size of the leaf-stalks, every care must he 

 given that will contribute to leaf growth. It is an early 

 spring crop; the land, therefore, should he quiclc, and the 

 plants should have made a sturdy growth the previous year 

 to have energy to start quicMy and vigorously. The top 

 growth is completed by summer. A well-prepared and 

 well-handled rliuharh plantation should last twenty years 

 or more. Propagated by divisions of the root and by seed. 

 It is essentially a northern crop. 



Year-old seedlings or divided roots are planted in the field 

 usually 4 or 5 feet in autumn or spring, preferably in spring, 

 requiring about 2,200 plants to tlie full acre. About 1,500 seeds 

 are contained in an ounce, but 3 or 4 pounds of seed are rec- 

 ommended for the raising of seedlings as rigorous thinning 

 selection must be practised. An acre should yield 3,000 dozen 

 bunches, in full bearing, the bunch usually comprising 3 to 6 

 stalks, sometimes more if the stalks are small. 



Rhubaeb cueculio (Lixiis concavus) . — A black snout-beetle, 

 % in. long, dusted with a yellowish covering which easily 

 rubs off. The insect breeds in dock, sunflower and thistle, 

 but the larvae are never found in rhubarb. The injury is 

 caused by the punctures which the beetle makes in the petioles 

 from which there exude glistening drops of gum. Control: 

 Hand-picking; destroy all wild food-plants in the vicinity of 

 rhubarb. 



The effort in the growing of rhubarb is to produce 

 abundantly of large tender leaf -stalks and at the same time 

 to fill the plant with energy for the crop of the succeed- 

 ing year. The size of the leaf-stalks depends partly on 

 the variety, but particularly on the soil and the tillage. 

 There are only three or four popular varieties, of which 



