Page:The family kitchen gardener - containing plain and accurate descriptions of all the different species and varieties of culinary vegetables (IA familykitchengar56buis).pdf/118

 family, though twenty will not be too many. By this method it will be ready for use in the first year after planting, whereas, from seed, it is three years before it is ready for the table. In removing the stalks for use, first scrape away a little of the earth, then bend down the stalk you wish to remove, and slip it off from the crown without breaking or cutting it. The stalks should not be used after the leaves are full grown, as they are then too hard and stringy; use the stalks only of such leaves as are about half, or nearly fully expanded. Where there is a large supply, it can be made into a preserve of any kind. Both an excellent jam and jelly can be made from either the green or red varieties, though the color of that made from the latter is more beautiful, being a fine dark pink.

.—To force Rhubarb, it is only necessary to procure some large pots, boxes, or half-barrels, and invert them over the roots. Then cover the whole entirely, ground and all, with leaves and hot stable-manure. This will cause an agreeable heat to arise; the plants will grow freely under their warm, dark covering; the stalks will be finely blanched, very tender, and delicately flavored. This operation should be performed before the ground gets frozen, by placing the boxes, &c., over the plants intended to be forced, and covering the ground with eight or ten inches of leaves or litter. Then, about the middle of January, mix with the leaves as many more, with warm dung, as will entirely cover the articles under which the plants are preserved. If properly managed, the stalks will be fit for use in from four to six weeks, and the plants will continue to produce till the roots in the open air take their place. They, too, are greatly benefited by placing a barrel over them as soon as they begin to grow in the Spring; the stems grow more tender and much longer by this process. There should be a few holes in the barrel, or a part of the bottom taken out to admit a little air, though it is not absolutely essential. Many persons may dislike all this