402 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



One of the results obtained is of especial interest in this connec- 

 tion. Some Early Dwarf Purple plants were started early in 

 August and some of the seedlings were grown in houses in which 

 ditferent degrees of temperature were maintained. The plants 

 grown in an intermediate or moderately warm house made but little 

 growth, and were soon, stunted and worthless. This showed con- 

 clusively that egg-plants require a high temperature for their rapid 

 and vigorous development. Other plants were placed in each of 

 two warm houses, one of which was shaded by means of a thin coat 

 of whitewash upon the glass: The plants in the other, house were 

 exposed to direct sunlight and they were also subjected to a bottom 

 heat of scarcely five degrees. Although the air temperature of the 

 two houses was practically identical, the plants receiving the sunlight 

 grew fully twice as fast as the others and had open blossoms before 

 those in the shaded house showed any buds. When some of the 

 latter were removed into the same favored position they very soon 

 showed a benefit from the change. In this way the plants them- 

 selve s emphasized the necessity of plenty of sunshine for their 

 development in winter quarters ; and a certain amount of bottom 

 heat, from 4 to 6 degrees, is also very beneficial, the air temperature 

 at the same time being that of a warm house. 



Egg-plants designed for forcing should never be stunted. An 

 important aid to prevent this condition is a soil which is open and 

 still rich in available nitrogen. A rich, sandy loam, in which all the 

 ingredients are well rotted, is preferable to one having the manure 

 in an undecayed condition. The latter is too open, and it is more 

 difiicult to maintain a proper supply of moisture. The soil should 

 be sufticiently open to afford good drainage, but not so coarse that it 

 dries out too rapidly. The bench mentioned at the beginning of 

 the article as containing manure from a spent mushroom bed did 

 not prove so satisfactory as the one containing the sandy loam, 

 largely because it was more difficult to manage. 



Another point which should not be overlooked in forcing egg- 

 plants is the pollination of the flowers. This is most satisfactorily 

 done by hand, the small number of insects found in greenhouses 

 during the colder months being of very little use in this respect. 

 The work can be done rapidly by means of a small flat piece of 

 metal, such as can be made by flattening the point of a pin with a 

 hammer and then inserting the other end into a small stick, which 

 will serve as a handle. Such a spatula is also very convenient in nearly 



