212 THE KITCHEN GARDEN. [March. 
ward part of the root adjoining it will be necessary; for the lateral 
pores must be opened to permit the confined watery fluid to exude 
freely. Then cut them in slices, which string on pack-thread so as 
not to touch, and hang them up in a stove-room, to be kept con- 
stantly warm till they are effectually dry. Should the season even 
prove hot enough for drying them in the sun, the former method 
would be preferable, for by exposing them so much to the sun and 
light, they would be greatly impaired in the colour, and perhaps 
some of their finer parts dissipated thereby; but culinary heat is 
free from that objection, and at the same time possesses all the 
advantages of quick drying. The drying of the roots, without 
suffering them to get mouldy, must be carefully attended to, as a 
neglect in this point would render all your former industry fruit- 
less, and it is considered among the cultivators as a difficult task. 
The marks of the goodness of rhubarb are, the liveliness of its 
colour when cut; its being firm and solid, but not flinty or hard; 
its being easily pulverable, and appearing when powered of a 
bright yellow colour; on being chewed, its imparting to the spittle 
a deep saffron tinge, and not proving slimy or mucilaginous in the 
mouth. 
The true officinal or pal mated rhubarb has numerous root-leaves, 
large, rough, of a roundish figure, deeply cut into lobes and irregu- 
larly pointed segments on long, smooth, round foot-stalks. Stem- 
leaves, one at each joint, issuing from a membranous sheath 
successively smaller upwards. Flowers surrounding the branches 
in numerous clusters, and forming a kind of spike. Corolla or 
flowers of a greenish- white. 
The species cannot be mistaken if you attend to its superior 
height, the ferruginous or reddish-brown colour of the stem branches 
and petioles or leaf-stalks, the particular palmate form of the leaves, 
and the elegant looseness of the little pannicles of flowers which 
display themselves on erect, round, hollow, jointed, slightly scored 
stems branching towards the top, and from six to eight feet high. 
The Rheum Rhaponticum, or Common Rhubarb. 
This has a large thick root, which divides into many strong fleshy 
fangs, running deep into the ground; the outside of a reddish-brown 
colour, and the inside yellow, from which arise several leaves, in 
number according to the size of the root; those come up folded in 
the spring, and afterwards expand themselves; they are smooth, of 
a roundish heart shape, having very thick foot-stalks of a reddish 
colour, which are a little channelled on their lower part, but flat at 
the top. When the plant grows on rich land, the foot-stalks of the 
leaves are near two feet long, and thicker than a man's thumb; the 
leaves also are often two feet long and as much in breadth, having 
several strong longitudinal veins running from the foot-stalk to the 
borders of a deep green, and waved on their edges, having an acid 
taste, but particularly the foot-stalks, which are very frequently 
used, and much esteemed for tarts and pies. The flower stalks 
grow from two to three feet high, and are terminated by thick close 
