the year , the ground may be usefully employed in many articles of gardening, from the middle of August to 
the beginning of April. 
The seeds, however, do not require a hot-bed to make them vegetate ; but if sown in the natural 
ground during the spring, when the weather is open, soon come up, and thrive fast. The plant delights 
most in a rich, light, deep soil, and warm exposure, but will thrive almost in any situation. 
Mr. Jones says, that “In the culture of rhubarb, the whole difficulty consists in bringing the plants 
through their first season ; if the weather be hot and sultry, they must be shaded, and at all events must be 
continually watered. For transplanting, a wet or cloudy day should be preferred; and if the weather 
should continue for two or three days successively, not more than four or five in a hundred will probably be 
lost. In a month the roots will have made fresh shoots, and new leaves will have succeeded the former, 
which commonly, notwithstanding all our care, will wither away. The plants may now remain till the 
ensuing spring, or if the summer be favourable, and the land intended for the plantation be well trenched 
three feet deep, it may be completed without delay. It is a good way to sow the ground with carrots ; the 
surface by this means being preserved from weeds, and rendered finer by repeated hoeings, and the bottom 
kept light and open. At different periods during the summer, when the plants are of a proper size, and the 
weather is cloudy or showery, with a transplanter or circular spade, remove them with a ball of earth ad- 
hering, at the prescribed distances, into the midst of the carrots, destroying such as might obstruct the 
growth of the rhubarb ; and if the weather should prove unusually hot, the foliage of the carrots will pre- 
serve the young plants from the sun till they have acquired a sufficient growth ; after this it remains only to 
keep the plantation clear, and the trenches open/ 5 
The indispensable points are the depth ?md quality of the soil, which should be light, loamy, and rich, 
but not too much so, lest the roots should be too fibrous : it can scarcely be too dry, for more evil is to be 
expected from a superabundancy of moisture, than from any actual want of it. A declivity is very eligible 
for the plantation. When a plantation does not possess this natural advantage, narrow beds and deepened 
trenches are among the artificial means that should be adopted ; but most situations will require some care 
to prevent the ill effects of water remaining on the crowns of the plants ; therefore, when the seed-stalks 
are cut off, which ought always to be done on the withering of the radical leaves, they should be covered 
with mould in the form of a hillock. This will answer two good purposes, that of throwing off the rain, and 
keeping open the trenches, by taking the earth from them.” 
The Chinese get up their rhubarb in winter. Pallas says that the Tartars take up theirs in April and 
May; but in Bellas account, this is said to be done in autumn. Forster, in his History of voyages in the 
North, affirms, that the roots are dug up in winter, because they then contain the entire juice and virtue of 
the plant; those that are taken up in summer, being of a light spongy texture, and unfit for use. We 
should think, that in this country, February would be the month most fit for digging up the roots. The 
greatest difficulty appears to be in drying, and preserving them. 
In Tartary, being thoroughly cleansed, and the smaller branches cut off, they are cut transversely into 
pieces of a moderate size ; these are placed on long tables or boards, and turned three or four times a day, 
that the yellow viscid juice may incorporate with the substance of the root. If this juice be suffered to run 
out, the roots become light and unserviceable ; and if they be not cut within five or six days after they are 
dug up, they become soft, and decay rapidly. Four or five days after they are cut, holes are made through 
them, and they are hung up to dry, exposed to the air and wind, but sheltered from the sun. Thus, in 
about two months, the roots are completely dried. The loss of weight is very considerable : seven loads of 
green roots yielding only one small horse-load of perfectly dry rhubarb. 
The Chinese method is somewhat different. They skin the roots, cut them into slices, and dry them 
on stone slabs, under which large fires are kindled ; but, as this process is not sufficient to dry them per- 
fectly, they make a hole through them and suspend them on strings ; some say exposed to the sun, while 
Kochin asserts that they are hung in the shade. Were we to cultivate rhubarb in this country, we should 
take the same preliminary steps that are practised by the Tartars, and afterwards dry the pieces in a malt- 
kiln, where they might be hung on strings without interfering with the barley. 
From experiments made at the Bath hospital, it appears that the purgative qualities of English are 
scarcely so strong as Turkey or East India rhubarb, but the difference is not great. And from numerous 
