Rhubarb. _ 359 
one now recommended. Last year a new sort of rhubarb was 
offered in the neighborhood of the writer at 5s. a plant. Some of 
his friends purchased four or five roots, but he was satisfied with 
one. On receiving it he placed it in a hole, and covered it up 
with soil until February, when, on examination, five good buds 
were developed. The root was then divided into five parts, each 
of which, at the present time, is a large, flourishing plant, equal 
to any of those which were not divided. A bed was thus obtain- 
ed for five shillings, equal, indeed superior, to some costing twenty- 
five shillings. We are convinced, from actual experiment, that 
rhubarb may be brought to perfection in one year; that old beds 
are inferior to new ones; and that fresh plantations should be 
made every two years. The old plan of making a bed to descend 
to posterity should be exploded, in reference to many garden pro- 
ductions. Strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb, &c., &c., should be 
removed often, if fine healthy produce is wished for. 
Having a sufficient number of buds or crowns, let them be plant- 
ed in a well trenched and manured soil. If the leaves are deve- 
loped, care must be taken to prevent their flagging. This may 
be done by placing over them some long litter, sufficient to answer 
the purpose without excluding light and air. The young plants 
will soon be established, and will grow rapidly. No leaves must 
be taken off the first year, as the object is to convey all the elabo- 
rated sap possible to the stem for future use. If the ground is 
good, and kept free from weeds, no more care is required, and 
abundance of fine stalks can be taken off next spring. An exposed 
situation, with plenty of sun and air, will of course bring this pro- 
duction to the greatest perfection; but it will produce good crops 
without having these advantages fully. Every house with a gar- 
den, however^small, may thus furnish the table of its owner, with 
little expense and trouble. 
But rhubaib possesses the advantage 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 fer- 
menting 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, (hat 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 wither- 
ed take up the roots, and put them singly into large pots or boxes. 
