236 MISCELLANEOUS WARM PLANTS, 
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 themselves emphasized the neces- 
sity of plenty of sunshine for their development in win- 
ter quarters; and a certain amount of bottom heat, from 
4 to 6 degrees, is also very beneficial, the air tempera- 
ture at the same time being that of a warm house. 
Eggplants 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 
is more difficult to maintain in a proper supply of 
moisture. The soil should be sufficiently open to afford 
good drainage, but not so coarse that it dries out very 
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 eggplants 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 han- 
dle. Such a spatula is also very convenient in nearly all 
kinds of pollination made by hand, as it is so readily 
kept clean of foreign pollen. In the center of the flower 
will be seen the stigma, which projects beyond the tips 
of the ring of anthers or pollen-bearing organs which 
