Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1915-06-24
THE RHUBARB PLANT

time q most delicious frult. Wnen
| the stalks are used at the right
stage and given the proper care
| by the cook they are almost
equal to fresh peaches; when
they are not treated right either
I in planting or cooking they soon
become very common plate.
Rhubarb can be transplanted
every month in the year, but the
best time is early spring or Au-
gust. There are especially two
things rhubarb will not stand,
wet feet and deep planting :.
Most beneficial is good natural or
artificial drainage and rich soil,
made 50 by a good coat of man
ure plowed or spaded in and a
liberal top dressing every fall
cultivated or hoed in on the top
soil next spring. Fifty plants or
divisions of a good tender variety
planted 3 to 4 feet apart will
supply an average household with
more delicious fresh fruit and
juice for six months OF the year
than five times the space of
ground devoted to currants,
gooseberries or any other fruit,
and if you have from so to 100
plants you can afford to pick the
first stalk that sprouts up in
April and still figure on having
an abundance to keep you well
supplied all summer. Do you
really know what delicious
beverage can be made from the
juice of rhubarb mixed in cool
water? Take it along in the hay
field a hot summer day. And
even If you can not keep it cool
the acid contained in the juice
still make it a delicious and slim.
ulating drink where you would
loathe the test of a stale beer
There are about a hundred other
ways to prepare rhubarb, not
forgetting a well cooled rhubart
mush served with cool milk in
the evening or for that matter
three times a day; nothing cheap
er, nor healthier. The fresh acie
contained in the rhubarb purifies
the blood and puts new vigor il
your body and soul, is better ano
cheaper than any patent medi
cines, and from the growth of 81
to 100 plants you can eat every
day for 6 months and preserve
enough in fresh, cool water il
alright jars to last you all win
ter, but you can do still better
with your rhubarb. You can ado
three months more and make i
nine months of the year for fresh
crisp, delicious fruit. | will tel
you how. When your rhubarl
gets 81 years old and very bis
and strong clumps of roots. divide
some of the best and make ,
new planting and dig some 0,
the balance before frost in tn,
fall. Leave them on top of tn
ground until they have had {
/ good freeze this is very essen
tial to success, then place tn,
roots as you dig them in a darl
corner in your cellar or in a bar
rel in your cellar, exclude al
light, keep the soil moderated,
wet and after Christmas and TN
til spring YOU will have an abun
dance of brittle, fine fiavore
stalks that are fully equal to an
perhaps more tender than tn
outdoor grown. Years ago i
Chicago | have grown rhubarb i
| a dark house 36xSO it,. built fo
that purpose and the stalks ger
orally commands a price of II
| l5c a pound in the right marke
in January, February and Marcl
1t is better not to pull any stalk
the summer you transplant, {
least not until September. Ne,
year in May and June you ca
have stalks from to l poun
and over. | have them like tn,
today. When you pull stall
don't take the outer 2 or 8 leave
but only the tender ones, an
strip them off in succession !
| you do not come back to Il
J same plants to pull for 4 to
: weeks or more and just as quie
nc tha nlnnt chnus f1nmar Stan