CULTURE OF RHUBARB. 
155 
be found to equal, if not surpass those of the hybridum or Rhapon- 
ticum. 
CULTURE AND PROPAGATION. 
All the sorts may he propagated either by seeds or dividing the 
roots, the former is the best mode, making by far the finest plants, 
although in many cases division answers extremely well; care must 
always be taken to retain a good bud on the crown of each section, 
and to plant them on good ground, well trenched and manured. It 
is usual with many gardeners to blanch rhubarb early in the season, 
which decidedly improves the flavour and appearance, and the stalks 
requires less sugar to make them palatable, than when exposed to 
the open air; this may be accomplished by large Sea-cale pots, either 
with or without dung, but if this blanching be done out of the natu¬ 
ral season of growth, it comes under the denomination of forcing. 
To accomplish this properly with little expense and trouble, has led 
gardeners to adopt many methods. One of the first practised, was 
placing large pots or handglasses over the roots, and covering them 
with a good thickness of hot dung, after the manner of forcing Sea- 
cale. Although great crops may be obtained this way, the stalks are 
very liable to be much broken by growing against the sides or tops 
of the pots; to remedy this evil Mr. Judd, of Edmonton, covered his 
bed with open frame work, around, and on which he placed the dung. 
On this system it grew very fine, and required much less attention 
than with pots or glasses. Another method is to take the roots up 
carefully, and plant them in a fluid mushroom shed, either in a bed 
of tan, or in pots and boxes filled with light soil, or tan, and allowed 
a temperature of 45 to 55 or 60 degrees. Tan is preferable to soil, be¬ 
cause it receives the water more freely when given to the roots, and 
Mr. Knight has satisfactorily shown that the roots of all perennial her¬ 
baceous plants, contain within themselves, all the organizable matter, 
necessary for the formation of the leaves, and therefore require little 
or no soil, but only heat and water for their developement. After 
the forcing season the roots are divided and planted on a north bor¬ 
der, and the strongest selected for forcing again the following season. 
This method we believe is practised at Elford, Kirkley Hall, Pinkie 
House, Scotland, and many other places. We have found the sys¬ 
tem of forcing in Mushroom sheds to produce large crops, of an 
excellent quality ; and with some exceptions, it may he reckoned one 
of the best methods in use. We have observed, however, that where 
much fermentation is going on, with new beds, the colour of the 
stalks ha\e been materially injured, and the flavour nothing near so 
