Every garden should have at least a few plants of rhubarb. A dozen roots can be bought for about a dollar and a half, and will last a lifetime. They should be planted in a corner where they will be undisturbed, and require little or no culture beyond keeping them free from weeds. Cut off the leaves in late Autumn and throw some litter over the plants, and fork some manure into the ground in early Spring.

When the rhubarb starts in the Spring, if barrels without heads are placed over the plants to exclude the light, they will grow up tall and white and he crisp and tender, quite another thing from the stalks of the uncovered plant. It is generally enough to cover four plants to begin with, and then as soon as one plant has been cut, to move the barrel to another plant, and so on.