FORWARDING RHUBARB. 
IS 5 
FORWARDING RHUBARB. 
Those who may desire to have this excellent substitute for 
fruit at an early season, may procure it without much trouble. 
It is customary with some persons in the southern parts of 
England, to keep this plant growing in their kitchens, so that 
they may have it for use at any time. They have strong 
neat boxes, made for the purpose, about three feet deep and 
two wide, and in length according to the demand, from four 
to eight feet ; these being kept clean, have the appearance 
of flour-bins, and they are sometimes so contrived as to have 
shelves over them in imitation of a kitchen dresser. The 
plants being taken up out of the garden towards winter, are 
placed as close at the bottom of the box as they can be, with 
their crowns level : and some sand being thrown over, suf- 
ficient to fill up the interstices, and to cover the crowns 
about half an inch, finishes the operation. No farther 
trouble is necessary, except to give a little water, just to keep 
the roots moist, as they need no light at all ; and if the roots 
be planted in the garden when spring opens, they will, after 
having taken root, vegetate as strongly as before they were 
removed. 
Roots of Rhubarb taken up in the autumn packed in sand, 
and deposited in a warm cellar, will produce stalks earlier 
than if kept in the garden; and if placed in hcJ-beds they 
will yield abundantly, and that at a very early season. 
The consumption of this plant in the British metropolis 
may be judged of by the following extract from the London 
Gardener’s Magazine : “ Rhubarb, which has for some years 
Deen cultivated, is still a subject of increasing interest, and 
more extensively in demand than ever. On the fifth of May, 
no less than eight wagon loads, each weighing at least a ton, 
with an equal quantity in smaller proportions, were sold in 
Covent Garden market alone. One cultivator, Mr. Myatt, 
of New Cross, Deptford, had three wagon loads ; he has, I 
believe, nearly twenty acres of it under culture.” This plant 
