3 GO tiie amateur’s kitchen garden. 
value of any kind of cover that prevents escape of earth heat 
without oppressing the plants must, on the face of the facts, 
be obvious. 
It pays well to force rhubarb in sheds and outhouses where 
the demand is considerable, and there are plants at command 
for the purpose. The roughest machinery and materials will 
suffice, and the roots may be packed in any rough stuff that 
will hold moisture, and as for temperature, it should never 
rise higher than 60° if supplies are wanted quickly, and a 
better sample may be grown at an average of ten degrees less. 
If grown in the dark it will be more delicately flavoured than 
if exposed to light, while the colour will be scarcely less 
bright. In systematic forcing for the market, it is a good 
plan to plant in a well-made bed a lot of the best early sorts, 
putting the plants a yard apart, and cover with chimney-pots 
or large drain pipes, and surround these with hot dung, with 
a slate or some other rough cover on the top. Eough cradles 
made in the fashion of crates may be employed for the same 
purpose, and having been turned over to cover the stools, 
must be buried in hot dung, with rather loose and light litter 
on the top. The plant is so manageable and so profitable 
that whoever desires a supply of delicate rhubarb from Christ- 
mas to May will, after having read this chapter, find it quite 
easy to devise the means for the realization of the wish. 
The rhubarb supplied to the London markets is in great 
part forced in tan. The first lot of roots are lifted in October, 
and are exposed to the weather for about ten days, and they 
are then packed in tan in a brick pit and very slowly forced. 
In the course of December they yield a nice supply of most 
elegant shoots. The second lot is lifted a fortnight after the 
first, and is also exposed to the weather for a short time, and 
is then packed in tan to give a succession. When the sup- 
plies from these roots are exhausted, the covered stools in the 
open ground will begin to be productive, and there will be no 
need for lifting any more roots. It is not necessary to 
destroy the roots that have been forced, but they must have 
one year’s culture in rich soil to restore their vigour. 
Finally, to maintain the health and strength of the plant, 
be careful not to remove the stalks extravagantly, for if you 
pull, pull, pull, with immoderate eagerness, the plant will be 
seriously injured, and will be very likely to die outright. A 
short anecdote will illustrate this point. An amateur who 
