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XXXIII. On a Method of Forcing Rhubarb in Pots. In a 

 Letter to the Secretary. By Thomas Andrew Knight, 

 Esq. F. R. S. 8?c. President. 



Read May 5, 118. 



My Dear Sir, 



Understanding that a Paper upon the Culture of 

 Rhubarb, for culinary purposes, will be read at the Meeting 

 of the Horticultural Society to morrow, I address to you an 

 account of a mode of Forcing that plant, which I have 

 practised in the present spring with much success; and 

 which, being different from that communicated to you, may 

 possibly be found, under some circumstances, equally, or 

 perhaps more, eligible. And as other plants, which have 

 roots of similar construction, may not, improbably, be forced 

 with advantage by the same mode of treatment, I shall 

 concisely state the circumstances which induced me to 

 adopt it. 



The root of every perennial herbaceous plant contains 

 within itself, during winter, all the organizable 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 will be found to vegetate, after being replanted, as 

 strongly as it would have done, if it had retained its first 



