270 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
[ April 4,1889. 
distinguished horticultural merit, and not for perpetuating those 
gairish displays which were so much in vogue at South Kensington. 
RHUBARB. 
One need not waste many words on the ground cultivation of 
Rhubarb. An open and sunny position, deeply dug ground well 
manured all through its depth, is all that is required. But when 
one comes to the question of Rhubarb and Rhubarb, there is much 
to be said by those who are competent to say it. I do not claim to 
be one of these, but I do think I know a little about some varieties, 
seeing that there are few that have not passed through my hands 
duiing my nearly forty years’ gardening experience. 
It has been my lot to be gardener to families with many young 
members in them, and wisely, for their health’s sake, they have been 
large consumers of Rhubarb. Some have used it in one way, some 
in another. My present family “ go in ” largely for it stewed in 
gateaux, and the cry of the cook therefore is, and has been all 
along the past, for red Rhubarb. “ Oh ! don’t bring us up that 
green stuff (Stott’s Monarch and Linnaeus), we want that red 
Rhubarb ; ” so as some years ago there was not much red all 
through except Early Pontic and later Salt’s Crimson Perfection 
and Baldry s Scarlet Defiance, those were the sorts grown for the 
early pullings, and Victoria for its size, colour, and excellent forcing 
properties. 
Through the kindness of Mr. Gilbert of Burghley, who is always 
doing quiet little acts of brotherly graciousness, I was introduced 
to, and set up with Hawkes’s Champagne, and since having that 
variety well established in the garden, Early Pontic, Prince Albert, 
Dancer’s Early Red, Scarlet Defiance, have been sent to the right 
about, because Hawkes’s fills their place and more. It is our 
favourite Rhubarb, the cook will have none other whilst I will 
pull that. I grant that it is not large, but for ordinary purposes it 
is large enough, and for small gardens attached to small houses it 
is just the Rhubarb, as it is early, and good all through the 
summer. 
As to earliness, I have pulled to-day, March 25th, out of the open 
ground, ten to twenty sticks some 8 or 10 inches long and 3 inches 
in circumference at their thickest part, and as showing relative 
earliness Johnston’s St. Martin is only lifting the straw which 
covers the crowns. Speaking of this Rhubarb, I may say that it is 
really a useful variety where deep red colour is not a chief desi¬ 
deratum. The young sticks are beautifully crisp, and it produces 
them more generally and in greater quantity, and longer as to time, 
than any other of the large Rhubarbs do. It is a really useful jam 
Rhubarb and fine flavoured. This is my second Rhubarb. My 
third is one which no garden can do without, because of its size, 
colour, vigour, lateness, and good forcing qualities, and that is 
Victoria. As a forcer it is, in my opinion, unequalled, seeing it 
will give good sized sticks of bright red colour, crisp, and sweet. 
These three, then, are my main croppers, and those I trust to for 
my supply. 
I should not be the Rhubarb enthusiast that I am if these were 
all the sorts that I grow now, though. No, I am perpetually, 
picking up one variety after another, and giving them a corner 
here and a corner there, until some of my visitors say, “they 
cannot turn round without seeing Rhubarb.” Well, that is all 
right, is it not ? I am like Arthur Clennam at the Circumlo¬ 
cution Office (Dickens’s “Little Dorrit”), and “I want to know” 
everything that I can know, so I have Reading Ruby in one corner 
and a very neat and good and useful Rhubarb it is, but it is not up 
to Hawkes’s as far as our wants go. In another corner I have a few 
roots of Crimson Perfection. It is slow, very slow, but red through 
its stems, and very good, and a stem now and then is useful to me. 
It is, however, too slow to recommend. In another corner there 
there are some roots of Kershaw’s Paragon. This will grow 
plenty of stuff, and certainly does not flower, but it is not quite up 
to my standard, and some day will have to go. In another corner 
is a trial Rhubarb of which I have high expectations. It was sent 
to me as a seedling Rhubarb of his by Mr. Lister of Darnall, near 
Sheffield. It appears to have much of the Champagne blood in it as 
to colour and growth, only it is larger, but it is not quite so early. 
It began to lift the straw covering last week, and so is later than 
Champagne. I shall watch it very closely and report of its conduct 
later on. Through the mediation of the Editor I have become 
possessed of a kind I have been looking for for a good few years 
and that is Tobolsk. I am deeply grateful to the donor of the 
eyes of it sent to me, and to the Editor for acting as middleman. 
Now we have a new Rhubarb coming up which, with the 
exception of “ Handy Andy’s ” Tobolsk, beats all as to earliness. 
The Vicar of Yaxley in Suffolk announces a Rhubarb which he 
found in the Vicarage garden, and which put in an appearance for 
pulling, in the open ground, and even without any protection, by 
St. Valentine’s day. Well, all I can say is, that after that announce¬ 
ment there will have to be another corner in my garden with th& 
Vicar of Yaxley’s Rhubarb in it. But I must stop, the Editor is- 
frowning. The rest must wait.—N. H. P. 
[Better not wait long or the frowns will deepen.] 
I AM quite surprised that your correspondent “ Southron ” has- 
not been able to gather Rhubarb outside, without any forcing, in his 
favourable locality. I have here, this day, gathered a very nice 
dish, without covering of any description—the variety being true 
Champagne, from the raiser. I have grown every variety of 
Rhubarb in commerce, and conclude that Champagne is the prince 
of Rhubarbs. Some of your critics may say, very likely the dish 
I gathered to-day, March 21st, was grown in a warm corner, or at 
the foot of a south wall, but it is a positive fact it was grown in 
our orchard with no shelter from the winds. Speaking of Rhubarb, 
I may say that we have forced a large quantity this season, but we 
never force either Seakale or Rhubarb with anything but pure 
leaves. The Rhubarb then is sweet, tender, and an excellent 
flavour. What I consider the acme of perfection in Rhubarb is 
simply to cover it about Christmas with old cement barrels. We 
have at the present time a large quantity from 10 to 14 inches long 
in the stalk, the flavour and colour of which are excellent.— 
R. Gjlbert, Burghley, Stamford. 
EUCIIABIS GRANDIFLORA. 
This ever-popular flower has obtained a notoriety during the 
past few years which has not been to the advantage of cultivators,, 
who have allowed their fears of a certain parasite to induce them 
to take extreme steps, and too hastily to destroy their plants. 
Twelve months ago every individual Eucharis in the gardens here 
was innocent alike of foliage and of roots, as well as many of the 
outer bulb scales, yet such is the vitality and recuperative force of 
this plant that to-day all are in vigorous health, with strong foliage, 
plenty of roots, and flowering freely, though the trusses are not so- 
large as when the plant is at its best, six and seven flowers to 
one truss being the largest number, while in past times we have 
had them with not fewer than seven, and in some cases as many 
as eight flowers to a truss. The recovery of the plants was so 
rapid, and their progress since so satisfactory, that a detail of the 
very simple means employed may not be devoid of benefit to those 
who may have unhealthy plants to deal with. In the first place, 
every portion of decayed and affected bulb scale was cut clean 
out, and in the process some large bulbs were so reduced in size 
that it hardly appeared possible these would recover for a long 
period. The bulbs were then washed with and allowed to lie for a 
little while in a solution of petroleum, so strong that no insect 
could survive. A bed of flaky leaf mould was made in a propagating 
pit, and on the surface of this the bulbs were set—not plunged nor 
buried. 
In due time the soil was filled with roots, and leaves were 
formed, and at this stage the plants were potted. One way of 
accomplishing this would have been to lift each bulb carefully, and 
pot in orthodox fashion in good turfy loam ; but this time it was 
determined to depart somewhat from the recognised path. Accord¬ 
ingly clumps sufficiently large to fill 10-inch pots were lifted—roots, 
leaf soil, and all, the space unfilled in the pot being made up with 
material of quite a light nature. The plants were grown in a high 
temperature, some of the strongest throwing up trusses in autumn, 
and a pretty full crop in January and February of the present year. 
The pots are now so crammed with bulbs and roots that a shift into 
12-inch pots is necessary, and this will be undertaken immediately 
the plants are out of flower. This time material of a firmer texture 
will be employed, though judging from the surprisingly rapid pro¬ 
gress the plants made in the light open soil used last season, to have 
employed the usual potting material then would have simply checked 
progress at a time when it was essential to the plants that no check 
should occur. Now it is different ; the plants are so strong and so- 
thoroughly established that good loam will soon be taken possession 
of, and we shall have less cause to fear sourness arising from the 
repeated waterings, which are so necessary during the summer 
months. 
It is well that this Eucharis allows a considerable amount of 
latitude in its cultivation. There are, however, a few things which 
are fatal to it ; the mite is one, mealy bug is another. I have seen 
Eucharis so badly infested with bug as to kill every leaf, and the 
bulb followed—of course, a fatal termination, due to primary 
neglect, which might have been averted ; but the want of energy, 
or whatever we please to call it, that allowed the bug to thrive at 
the expense of foliage cannot be expected to assert itself to save 
the bulb ; yet, bad as bug is on Eucharis, on no plant is it easier to 
