54 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
Success With Rhubarb. 
For thirty-five years I have been 
getting a living raising small 
fruits from two and a half acres 
of land. A few years ago I adopt- 
ed in my business of small fruits 
Rhubarb culture. I had 90 hills, 
and I could not supply the de- 
mand. This spring I set out 50 
hills, and this fall I have set 50 
more. 
In growing Rhubarb my experi- 
ence has been that to grow fine, 
large, red, and tender Rhubarb I 
dig my hills 30 inches across and 
eight or ten inches deep and fill 
the holes, full of horse manure. 
Then I take a spading fork and 
spade six inches of the side of this 
hill in two hills and mix this 
thoroughly with the dressing. I 
take the soil that comes out of the 
hill and put this on top, and then 
tramp this down some in the fall. 
Then the dressing will have all 
winter to rot and will be ready for 
spring setting. Horse manure has 
lots of nitrogen, which is great for 
Rhubarb culture. 
I grow mostly the Linnaeus. 
This is a very early red sort, very 
tender, and of good size and fine 
flavor. One of the best is the 
Strawberry, very large, late and 
red. I have grown some stock 
that weighed two pounds each. In 
setting the plants in the spring, I 
dig a hole in the center of the hill, 
large enough to take the plant in, 
and fill in around the plant some 
of the soil that came out of this 
hill and close in the soil quite hard 
so as to close out the air, so it will 
not dry out after the plants begin 
to grow. Then I feed the plants 
liquid dressing made of nitrate of 
soda every few days. In making 
this liquid dressing I take one 
quart of nitrate of soda and put 
this in 50 gallons of water, mixing 
well. In watering the plants I 
make a small hole some five or six 
inches deep, fill this hole full of 
the dressing every few days, and 
then the plants will soon begin to 
grow, and in August you will be 
surprised to see how the Rhubarb 
does grow. You will have Rhu- 
barb to eat, can and sell to cus- 
tomers. 
My town is a manufacturing vil- 
lage, with six large woolen mills 
and a large machine shop, which 
employs some five hundred men. 
Most of my customers are people 
who work in these factories and 
have families. All earn good pay 
and have plenty of money to buy 
with, and pay their bills weekly. 
Now, the first of May Rhubarb 
is ready for the market. The 
first thing I do is to put in my 
front yard on a post a sign, 18 
inches square, “Rhubarb For 
Sale, by A. A. Eastman.” Every- 
body passing sees this sign, and I 
put an ad in my local newspaper, 
which everybody will see, and 
which will bring lots of trade. 
There is nothing like printer’s ink 
when it is spread in the right 
place and in the right time. Have 
the best of goods, the best that 
can be grown. Don’t try to do a 
little grafting work in some dirty 
or poor stock which will hurt your 
trade. Sell nothing but the best 
and charge a good, fair price. 
This year the price was 5c per 
pound all the season, and I could 
not grow it fast enough to keep 
my customers well supplied, and I 
had to buy several hundred 
pounds in order to keep up with 
my business. I find now that I 
am getting more ready money and 
much less hard work for all of my 
troubles in Rhubarb culture. 
For winter protection, after the 
plants die down in the fall, I cover 
the plants with strawy horse 
dressing through the cold winter 
and in the spring. When the cold, 
freezing nights are over, I open up 
the center of the hills and let in 
the warm rays of the sun, which 
will warm up the plant, and you 
soon have Rhubai’b large enough 
to make a fine pie. Everybod T 
likes a good, fat Rhubarb pie early 
in the spring. All this will not 
run alone and bring in good re- 
turns. When you have put in 
some ambition, common sense and 
work and good location, you can 
earn big pay for all your labor and 
trouble, and enjoy your business, 
and your family and your sur- 
roundings will look like business, 
and your neighbors and friends 
will make you visits every day 
and do some business. — A. A. 
Eastman, Maine, in Market Grow- 
ers Journal. 
Evergreens such as small spruce 
and cedar are good in winter win- 
dow boxes. Stick them into the 
soil before the ground freezes. 
They will hold their needles until 
warm days in spring. 
Crop reports show nearly 60,000 
acres of cabbage grown in the 
United States this year and over 
230,000 acres of sweet corn. 
Do not let ferns become dry. 
About once a week stand in a tub 
of water so as to thoroughly 
moisten the roots. 
Apple and other trees may be 
pruned on warm days during the 
winter when it is comfortable to 
work outside. 
Tramp the snow about trunks 
of trees and you will disturb the 
winter home of many mice. 
