Pears for Nine Months. Family Supplies of Meat. 
Vol. LVIII. No. 2566. 
NEW YOKE, APRIL 1, 1899. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
SECIIEL. Fig. 89. 
SHELDON. Fig. 92. 
FORCING RHUBARB IN THE DARK. 
AN ACCOUNT OF A LITTLE-KNOWN INDUSTRY. 
Part V. 
Growing from Seed. —In my last article, Feb¬ 
ruary 18, it might seem that I would entirely discard 
the practice of growing from the seed ; but that must 
be taken with a grain of salt. The 
object of these articles is to get 
people started on the road to suc¬ 
cess, and by the shortest possible 
route ; so I say, for your starter, 
depend on root propagation rather 
than growing from the seed. 
While the seed is usually unrelia¬ 
ble, there is, however, one excep¬ 
tion ; the Victoria has become so 
well established as a type, that it 
will nearly, or quite, always reproduce true to name. 
It will be well for any who can to sow some seed 
this Spring. It may be started 
in hotbeds at any time, and 
transplanted as soon as the 
season will permit; or it may 
be sown in drills in the open 
ground as early as possible. 
After it is well started, thin 
the plants to six inches, and a 
little later, thin or transplant 
to one foot apart in the row. 
In the Fall, transplant to per¬ 
manent rows, setting the roots 
about 4x5 feet apart. 
Soil Preparation.—T h e 
ground should be worked as 
deeply as possible. As rhu¬ 
barb is an exceedingly gross 
feeder, there is very little 
danger of overfeeding. Barn¬ 
yard manure seems to be its 
favorite food, and all that can 
be worked into the ground 
should be applied before 
transplanting the roots from 
the hotbeds or the open drills. 
The same is also true of set¬ 
ting out the roots in root 
propagation. After this, a 
liberal supply of manure 
should be spread on the 
ground, both Fall and Spring. 
Success in forcing depends 
largely on strong, well-devel¬ 
oped roots, and half-hearted 
cultivation and manuring will 
result in the loss of both time 
and money. 
Propagation of Forced 
Roots. —A subscriber at Erie, 
Pa., asks 11 What can be done 
with roots after forcing ? ” That depends largely on 
circumstances. Forcing, at best, is very exhaustive 
on the roots ; hot¬ 
bed forcing is espe¬ 
cially so, and very 
few roots will sur¬ 
vive it. Ordinary 
cellar forcing is far 
less severe, and 
most of the roots 
can be used for 
propagation to ad¬ 
vantage. To do this 
properly, the roots 
should be removed 
from the cellar as 
soon as the forcing 
ANGOULEME. Fig. 90. season is over, and 
covered slightly to prevent too much freezing and 
thawing; let them remain there until the weather 
and ground ^ will permit 
planting out. When ready to 
movingall I broken or de¬ 
cayed parts, and divide to 
one eye, or more i f you 
choose, leav- ing as much 
sound root as possible with 
they will grow 
sufficiently strong to force 
again at the end of the 
second season. This will be 
found profita- ble, especially 
until one is thoroughly es¬ 
tablished and has a plentiful stock of roots on hand, 
so that he is sure to have a succession of strong, 
LAWRENCE. Fig. 94. 
BARTLETT. Fig. 93 
LOUISE BONNE. Fig. 95. 
P. BARRY. Fig. 96. 
For Description op Pears see Ruhalisms, Page 240. 
thrifty roots from which to select, from year to year. 
In the early Winter, I visited the grounds of one 
grower who showed me about 1,000 roots turned out, 
ready for the cellar; these 
were all grown from divisions 
of roots that sy were forced 
two years ago. If These were as 
fine a lot of W EB S w air tt roots a s one 
could desire. Roots forced 
in the hotbed cBy | will have 
served their day and gen¬ 
eration there. '<■>■" % • as that kind of 
forcing is very flHgg&v , severe, and the 
returns from propagating 
from them will hardly pay 
gating the ^roots should 
be a profitable Margaret, fig. 98. business. 
As To Temperature. —The same inquirer asks 
“ At what temperature should I keep the cellar?” 
As mentioned in a previous 
article, rhubarb seems to ac¬ 
commodate itself to circum¬ 
stances, so that any ordinary 
variations of temperature 
will do no harm. It may be 
held in a dormant state for 
weeks, if desired, by admit¬ 
ting no heat. If desired to 
hurry the work, put the 
temperature to 75 or 80 de¬ 
grees, or even as high as 85 
degrees. Too high a tem¬ 
perature will cause it to 
spindle, which is, of course, - 
not desirable. In the main, winter nelis. Fig 99. 
it would be safe to say about 75 degrees. If the fires 
should, for any cause, go entirely out, no harm would 
come, other than retarding 
the growth for the time 
being; but there will be no 
danger of mildewing or damp¬ 
ing off. 
Future Outlook,— T h e 
prospects for the future, it 
would seem, ought to be good, 
as the consumption of rhu¬ 
barb, like that of the tomato, 
is increasing from year to 
year. When the Winter pro¬ 
duct is more widely known, 
the demand will, doubtless, 
keep pace with the supply. 
Last Summer, one of our 
growers here received an oi der 
from Chicago for 20 tons of 
rhubarb, but the weather 
being very dry, and fearing 
the injury of the Winter crop 
by too severe picking through 
the Summer, he refused to fill 
the order. The scarcity of 
roots will, of course, be a 
serious hindrance for a year 
or two; but this should not 
deter growers from under¬ 
taking the work, but should 
be rather an encouragement 
to begin at once. For this 
reason, I would advise all in¬ 
terested, not only to secure all 
the roots possible, large and 
small, but to sow the seed, 
also; this will be getting 
ready for use later on. 
Do not fall into-the error of 
one grower here, who last Win. 
ter used all the strong roots he 
had for forcing, and the next Fall wasDrunning the 
country over for roots for thii Winter’s use, but with¬ 
out success. Secure all 
the large roots possible 
for next Winter’s use (not 
removing them, of course, 
until time to put in the 
cellar); set out as many 
young roots as you may 
be able to secure ; these 
will be ready for the 
next season. Also sow 
some seed which will be 
ready for the third Win¬ 
ter’s work. When once 
established, they are 
easily kept in stock. 
J. E. MORSE. JOSEPHINE de MARINES. Fig 100 
ANJOU. Fig 97. 
