RHUBARB 



633 



by special culture may be increased to nearly double the size. 

 The flowering stems are large, cylindrical, hollow, and furrowed, 

 and bear small, short, erect branches, covered with small greenish 

 flowers, which are succeeded by triangular seeds with a membranous 

 wing on each of the angles. The germinating power of the seeds 

 lasts for three years. 



Culture. — Rhubarb may be propagated from seed ; but as, in 

 this case, the plants are liable to exhibit much diversity in their 

 habit of growth, the more common 

 practice is to divide the root-stock 

 of the plants which produce the 

 thickest and longest stalks. The 

 roots so divided are planted at the 

 end of winter in good, moist, deep, 

 very mellow, and well-manured soil, 

 and about a yard apart in every 

 direction. The stalks are not pulled 

 for use until the spring of the year 

 following that in which the roots 

 were planted, and the same plants 

 will continue to yield for four years 

 at least, and sometimes for ten years 

 or longer without the plantation 

 requiring to be renewed. The only 

 attention necessary is to keep the 

 ground free from weeds, and to 

 apply a good dressing of manure 

 every two or three years. In order to increase the length of 

 the stalks, a large bottomless flower-pot, a chimney-pot, or a 

 small barrel with the ends knocked out, is sometimes placed over 

 each plant in spring when the leaves are starting into growth. 

 Striving to reach the light, the leaves naturally grow longer and 

 the stalks at the same time become longer and more tender. The 

 flowering-stems, which would otherwise exhaust the plants, should 

 be cut off as they make their appearance. To force Rhubarb, the 

 roots should be taken up with a ball and planted in a hot-house or 

 a hot-bed. 



Stalks (f natural size). 



The cultivation of this plant, as 

 yet unpractised on the Continent, 

 as far as we know, is of much im- 

 portance in Great Britain and North 

 America. Rhubarb will grow in 

 many kinds of soil ; but the richer 

 and deeper it is, the finer will be 

 the quality and size. The situation 

 should also be moderately dry, or 



made so by drainage. It will grow 

 in clay, peat, or the bog-earth of 

 the Fens. We have seen it succeed 

 remarkably well in mud cleaned out 

 from a river. When the leaves get 

 fairly into growth, they need plenty 

 of food to keep them growing. The 

 larger the leaves of one season the 

 stronger will be the crown for 



