"Ghe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
699 
Easy Money in Rhubarb 
A Sure Croi*. —A cash oroi) which is 
;;iuning favor in some of the noarl)y mar¬ 
ket {tardon sections is rhnharh. both the 
field-grown crop and under glass. It is 
regarded as a sure producer, with few 
enemies and drawbacks, while the meth¬ 
od of culture is (piite simple. The mar¬ 
ket varies considerably but the early pro¬ 
duct nearly always brings fair prices and 
sells readily, even wluui sugar is high. 
The hothou.se output ranges from six to 
fifteen cents per pound in Boston this 
season. The field crop starts around 
seven cents, but gradually works down 
to one cent, lienee much of the i)i-ofit 
depi'uds on earliness when raising rhu* 
barb in the open grouml. 
IIotiiou.se KiiuiiARR.—The hothou.se 
crop her<> is now raised almost wholly in 
liouses of somewhat less costly build 
.stalks in Winter, after the manner of 
sprouts on the potato. The growers use 
manure in the houses, but the greater 
part of the substance of the forced crop 
comes out of the roots, which accounts 
for their exhausted and nearly worthless 
condition after they have been used in 
this way. 
Forcing. —The roots to bo forced are 
put in the greenhouse before freezing. 
The sides of the building are open and 
the roots are allowed to freeze. Then the 
sides are closed in with sash and the 
heat turned on. The roots begin to grow 
in about two weeks. The crop starts in 
about Feb. 1. and the opening price this 
year was l.S cents, moving down to eight 
or 10 cent.s toward the middle of April, 
owing to larger supply and to competi¬ 
tion with outdoor rhubarb grown farther 
south. There is also quite a h^t of rhii- 
Twenty Acres of Rhubarb on a Massachusetts Farm 
than the lettuce and cucumber houses. A 
structure that is rather out of date for 
some other crop may do for rhubarb, be¬ 
cause only a moderate amount of heat 
and light tire required to make the crop. 
The roots are set in early Winter, closely 
togdher in the house, in the natural .soil, 
enriched with plenty of stable manure. 
They start soon after the heat is turned 
on, they are kept welt watered, and the 
stalks iire ready to market in February, 
March and April. Victoria is preferred 
for forcing, on account of the size of the 
stalks, but Linnaeus is earlier and con¬ 
sidered more profitable for the outdoor 
crop. In starting a new field, either for 
forcing or for cropping, old roots are 
taken ui) in Si)ring, divided into four or 
five i>arts and set out three feet apart. 
For the forcing cro]). good growth rather 
than earliness is wanted, and the I’oots 
are set in heavy, .strong soil, with plenty 
of manure. Sometimes the roots that 
have been through the forcing houses are 
u.sed again, but usually it is not con¬ 
sidered worth while, because the ma¬ 
jority of them are so exhausted that 
they will die when .set in the field. 
Those that live will do to use again, but 
th(‘re will be so many gaps that the field 
will be in unsatisfactory condition, and 
hard to keep free of weeds. Fresh roots 
all live, and the big leaves soon shade 
the ground, keeping down the weeds and 
making cultivation by hors<? power an 
easy job. 
Fiki.i) Fuetitre. —In the Fall a fork¬ 
ful of manure is placed on each hill to 
keep from deep fi-eezing. In Spring 
they go over the field with a fertilizing 
drill, sowing 1,000 pounds of high grade, 
ready mixed fertilizer. Rain has wa.shed 
the manure from many of the hills. If 
left on, it would hold in the frost and 
cause late starting, so the rest of it is 
scraiied away with forks. Cultivation is 
only a mattei' of keeping down the weeds 
until the leaves are big enough to shade 
the ground. As the roots are used only 
once and it takes two year.s to grow 
them, it is plain that it requires a good 
deal of land to keep up the supplv. On 
the Wheel er place, where they dig six 
acres a year to fill the house.s, they keep 
about 18 a.cres under the crop. In fact, 
the greater i)art of the work in forcing 
the crop i.s done outdoors. The Winter 
crop is really stored in the big roots in 
Summer and is taken out again by the 
barb grown in warm, dark cellars, but 
it sells lower than hothouse rhubarb, be¬ 
ing what the dealers call “punky” and of 
poorer flavor and texture. 
The Outdoor Crop. —For the crop of 
rhubarb which i.s to be harvested in the 
field, a main re(iuirement is earliness. 
The more of the product that can be 
.sold before the price goes ’way down, the 
better for the grower. The early Lin- 
nmus is used, and the best location is 
medium, moist sandy loam with a south¬ 
ern slope; just such a place as makes 
the best kind of an early market gar¬ 
den. The plants obtained by dividing 
old hills are set 4x4 or .1x4 feet in deep 
fiiiu'ows half filled .\ ’*^h manure. Heavy 
manuring right along is a prime need. 
Coarse manure will do if there is enough 
of it, and I doubt if so much was ever 
used as to injure this rank feeder. The 
root, like its relative the yellow dock, is 
hal’d to kill, and new plantings may be 
set at any time in any sort of weather. 
The usual distances for setting the roots 
are .1x4 or 4x4 feet, but after the first 
year the field is cultivated only between 
the rows. Manure is used in large 
amounts in the furrow, several shovel¬ 
fuls to each plant when set out. Later 
applications may be put on the plants in 
Fall, to be raked off and forked or 
plowed under in Spring, but .some apply 
broadcast every Fall and plow it under 
iit once. By any pliin, the soil must be 
kept clean, mellow and very rich. Blen- 
ty of manure does not retard earliness as 
with some plants, but hastens the crop 
as well as increasing the yield. Ten 
cords of manure per acre pays better than 
to use less, and some growers use more. 
Harvesting. —^The yield will average 
about ten tons per acre under this gen¬ 
eral method and proceeds are .$200 to 
.$500 per acre. Rhubarb, field or hot¬ 
house, is usually marketed in Boston in 
bunches of 10 to 20 pounds, and the 
weight should be marked on the tag. 
Home is shipped in market boxes. The 
bunches of hotliouse rhubarb should each 
be crated to avoid damage. When the 
stalks have been brought into the pack¬ 
ing house they are piled beside the wall. 
One or two men scrape the I’oot ends and 
l)lace the stalks on the packing table. 
Another grasps enough of them to make 
a standard bunch, while a helper ties the 
bunch and still another cuts the leaves 
f.-iirly close to the stalk. o. B. f. 
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