THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
123 
thus furnish the table of its owner, with little expense and trouble. 
But rhubarb possesses the advantages of being forced with as much 
ease and as cheaply as it is grown in the open air. This may be done 
by growing it against a wall in a sunny aspect, and covering it when 
required with pots or boxes, over which fermenting materials must 
be placed. But decidedly the best method is to take the roots into 
the house to be forced. For this purpose they must be grown exactly 
as recommended above, that as much power may be treasured up in 
the roots as possible. To take up exhausted plants from a crowded 
bed, which has been stripped of its leaves during the season, is to 
deprive them of their natural advantages, and to expend the forcing 
process on weakened and imperfect subjects. Let cuttings, with a 
crown to each, be now put in, in the best possible situations, and by 
autumn they will be admirably adapted to your purpose. When the 
foliage is withered, take up the roots, and put them singly into large 
pots or boxes. These may be stood away anywhere, and introduced, 
two or three at a time, into a warm situation. The writer placed his 
pots this winter in a dark closet, at the back of a kitchen range, and 
the rhubarb grew rapidly. Every house can find some spot having 
the advantage of greater warmth than the ordinary temperature. 
Rhubarb may thus be had at any time, and a good supply kept up 
until it is produced in the open air. It is very necessary to get it as 
early as possible, as its value is much lessened when gooseberries are 
plentiful. 
POINSETTIA PULCHERRIMA. 
||EW plants are more really useful than this, both for de- 
corative purposes and for furnishing cut flowers; but 
unfortunately it is of a very straggling habit, and is not 
easily induced to form anything like a handsome well- 
furnished specimen. 
Pieces of the ripened wood would root readily if planted in light 
sandy soil, aud afforded a gentle bottom-heat ; or propagation may be 
effected by means of eyes treated in the same manner as those of 
vines. Young shoots coated where cut with collodion w'ould doubt- 
less also root freely. In this case, by planting a sufficient number 
in a good-sized pot, there will be no difficulty in obtaining compact 
bushy plants. The cuttings for this experiment should not be taken 
off until they are strong and rather firm, and of course stopping 
must not be resorted to, for the operation practised late in the 
season causes the plants to produce their brilliant floral leaves both 
scantily and small. Cuttings rooted at the present time should he 
potted singly in small pots, and placed in a close, warm pit, affording 
them a gentle bottom-heat till well established in their pots. When 
this is the case, shift into pots two sizes larger, using a rich, light 
compost, say one half prime turfy loam, one-fourth leaf-soil, and 
one-fourth of old thoroughly decayed cow-dung, well intermixed with 
plenty of clean, sharp sand, and lumpy bits of charcoal, to secure 
perfect drainage. 
April: 
