i 
154 CULTURE OF RHUBARB. 
the same year another was awarded to Mr. Ball, for his method of 
preserving the roots for use in medicine. Dr. Tirruogel, ot Stock¬ 
holm, states that no roots should be taken up till they have been 
planted ten years, and that they should be taken out of the ground 
in winter, before the frosts set in, or early in the spring, and imme¬ 
diately cut in pieces, and carefully barked: they should then be 
spread upon a table for three or four days, and be frequently turned, 
that the juice may thicken or condense within the roots. After this 
process, make a hole in each piece, and put a thread through it; by 
which let them lrang separately, either within doors or in some shel¬ 
tered situation. 
All medical men acknowdedge two virtues in rhubarb, that of evac¬ 
uating bilious humours, and that of fortifying by its astringency the 
fibres of the stomach and intestines. Lord Bacon remarks “ that 
rhubarb has manifestly in it, parts of contrary operations ; parts that 
purge, and parts that bind the body, and the first lie looser, and the 
latter lie deeper : so that if you infuse rhubarb for an hour, and 
crush it well, it will purge better, and bind the body less after the 
purging than if it stood 24 hours.” The principle in which the ac¬ 
tive property exists, is supposed to be a peculiar chemical substance 
called Rhubarbarin. 
Species and Varieties. —These have now become rather numerous, 
but the sorts generally cultivated for tarts See. are the following:— 
1 Wilmot’s 4 Elford 7 Gigantic 
2 Coxes 5 Hybrid 8 Rhapontic 
3 Judd’s 6 Buck’s 9 Palmate-leaved 
Of these Wilmot’s, and the Gigantic, may be considered decidedly 
the best; the former being a most excellent forcer, and the latter 
grows to an amazing large size without rankness. The palmate- 
leaved is held up by many as amongst the best for tarts. A. T. 
Thompson, Esq. M. D. remarks in the Gardener’s Magazine, that 
he has tried the leaf-stalks of almost every species of rhubarb culti¬ 
vated in Great Britain, and none, in his opinion, are equal to the 
palmatum ; he judges they are more succulent, less fibrous, and con¬ 
tain a much larger supply of rheumic acid, than those of any other 
species. Others again are decidedly opposite in their judgment, and 
complain of its strong medicinal taste, and its dry and wiry leaf-stalks. 
Now according to our ideas both these opinions are perfectly correct; 
if the roots are planted in strong land, and an exposed situation, the 
stalks in general are both dry and w iry ; if on a very wet bottom in 
any kind of soil, they have a strong rank acid, but if they arc plan¬ 
ted in light rich soil in a north or north-west border, their stalks will 
