TH8 
THE RUKAL NEW-YORKER 
September 4, 
Ruralisms 
RHUBARB CULTURE FOR WOMEN. 
/,’. It. G.. Westboro, Manx .—In the May 
number of The Ladles' Home Journal there 
is an article on a variety of rhubarb intro¬ 
duced by Luther Burbank and the profits 
there are in growing it. Can you tell me 
anything about it? The variety is named 
Crimson Winter rhubarb, very productive 
and six weeks earlier than old kind. 
Ans.—T he article by Grace Adele 
Pierce endorses rhubarb growing for 
women and tells of women who get 
$400 or more from an acre. Speaking 
of Burbank’s variety, the following 
statements are made: 
In order to insure an early marketable 
crop our most reliable raisers recommend 
the Crimson Winter variety set forth in 
this article. This improved rhubarb was 
given to the world a few years ago by 
Luther Burbank, and the great promoter 
himself says of it: “The great value of 
rhubarb as a vegetable has always been 
its earliness, and a vast amount of time 
and labor have been spent; in efforts to 
originate a variety which would produce 
stalks even a day or two in advance of the 
old pie-plant. Crimson Winter rhubarb will 
produce stalks many weeks earlier than any 
other.” There are many points in favor of 
Ibis variety, whether it lie used for home 
consumption or for shipping purposes. 
Rhubarb can be grown at a profit 
and 1 know of no other crop which 
can be grown and marketed more eas¬ 
ily. Yes, certainly a woman could 
grow and handle this crop and handle 
it well, provided, however, that she 
were situated near a market; but the 
misleading part of the article comes 
in saying that with this new variety, 
Burbank's Crimson Winter, rhubarb 
can be produced fully six weeks earlier 
than with other varieties. Stop and 
think what this means. Here in our 
climate rhubarb can be pulled (short) 
some years the first week in May, very 
rarely in April, unless some artihcial 
means is used to force it. Now, when 
you advance this natural season by six 
'weeks you have come to a period of 
frost and snow in most parts of New 
England at least, and all vegetation is 
dormant. It certainly would be of 
great advantage to get a variety of 
rhubarb which would be even two or 
three days earlier than present varie¬ 
ties, for often the market will vary 
enough in two days to give the man 
who has his rhubarb on warm sandy 
soil at least two cents a pound over 
his neighbor, who may have his plants 
on a later soil; so the story of getting 
it early reads very nicely and certainly 
would be of great advantage. Bur¬ 
bank’s Crimson Winter rhubarb has 
been tested by an number of the growers 
in this vicinity, and where grown be¬ 
side Victoria, or Linnaeus has not 
■shown any earlier tendencies. The 
stalk of the Burbank variety is cer¬ 
tainly much smaller than the Victoria, 
and this alone would condemn it as a 
market variety. This same conclusion 
has been reported to me by the grow¬ 
ers from California and Arizona. Mr. 
Burbank reports that the flavor of his 
variety is much superior to other varie¬ 
ties, but so much depends on the rapid 
growing of rhubarb whether it is tough 
or not, that this point of flavor re¬ 
solves itself simply to a matter of 
quick and steady growth. 
About Boston rhubarb is grown very 
extensively both out of doors and under 
glass. As a forcing crop it is con¬ 
sidered fairly profitable, for it can be 
grown in glass-roofed sheds built along 
the back of the cucumber hpuses, or 
even in a light cellar, for when it is 
growing under these conditions the 
stalks are drawn up quickly and with¬ 
out a great deal of leaf. Then again 
the -half light produces a redder stalk 
than when grown in the sun. For this 
forcing the plants, generally with two 
good buds, are set in the field 4x4 feet 
apart, and grown for two seasons, so 
that they will be strong enough to 
throw good stalks when brought into 
the forcing sheds. The plants in the 
field are cultivated both ways, so that 
there is little hand work in caring for 
them. Just before frost the crowns are 
lifted, stacked under an open shed, 
covered with coarse hay and allowed to 
freeze until wanted for the house. 
Often for the first crop and if the 
house is not in use the crowns are 
planted directly in the beds, using 
plenty of coarse strawy manure, and 
allowed to freeze there until ready to 
force. When the heat is applied care 
is taken not to heat the house too 
quickly, for should the crowns start 
before the roots are thoroughly 
thawed out many small poor stalks will 
be the result. So the heat is applied 
very gradually, at the same time water¬ 
ing heavily. Growth is very rapid, so 
that in about three weeks the first 
stalks are ready to pull, and from this 
time the beds are gone over every three 
or four days, the large stalks pulled, so 
that in about two weeks the whole crop 
is taken, and the roots are thrown out 
to make room for a new batch from 
the frozen pile. After pulling, the 
stalks are taken to the packing shed, 
where they are washed and tied in bun¬ 
dles of 10 pounds each, and these bun¬ 
dles in turn packed in barrel boxes 
holding about SO pounds. There is a 
great deal of heavy work connected with 
this method of rhubarb growing, and I 
should advise no woman to attempt it 
on a large scale. Prices on forced rhu¬ 
barb, which by the way is not “sour, 
tough and perishable,” as Mr. Burbank 
says, but of better color, more tender, 
and with less acidity than field grown, 
range from $0 to $15 per hundred 
pounds in the Winter months, but 
often these figures are reduced by the 
southern crop conflicting with ours. 
For field culture, any good light soil 
will do; much the same methods are 
practiced as are used for growing the 
plants for the forcing houses, but as 
the plants are to remain longer in one 
place they are set 3x5 or 3x6 feet, and 
set so that the cultivator can be run 
both ways. Some stalks can be pulled 
the first year after planting, but it is 
better to let the plants stay at least two 
growing seasons before any of the 
stalks are pulled. A plantation of this 
sort will last from eight to 10 years, 
provided that good cultivation and 
plenty of manure is given. After the 
stalks begin to run small it is better to 
take up the crowns and divide them 
up so that new growth will be encour¬ 
aged. Rhubarb grown in the field is 
considered a profitable crop at one cent 
per pound, for as many as 10 tons can 
be grown to the acre, and if some in¬ 
expensive means can be employed to 
get it to the market the profits will be 
good. It is a crop that cannot be han¬ 
dled by the express companies, so in 
locating a plantation of this sort it is 
simply necessary that it be located with- 
ing horse hauling distance of a good 
market.. Of course the difference be¬ 
tween a wholesale and a retail market 
will be a great deal, and if a small patch 
can be disposed of at the retail price, 
profits will be very good, and here is 
where a woman would come in. Don't 
try any of the so-called improved var¬ 
ieties as yet, for the largest growers 
have found nothing better than the Vic¬ 
toria, and the roots of this variety can 
be obtained at reasonable prices. Study 
your local conditions and find out first 
how much your market can use, and 
don’t plant beyond the means of your 
market. w. w. 
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