U2 NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



that the variations may 1x3 expected. Some of the fruits in the 

 engraving were photographed yonng and while they still held the 

 purpjo color of the "American" parent. In other words, the small 

 fruits at 9 and 14, in which the calyx still covers a considerable 

 portion of the deeply-corrngated fruit, were decidedly purple, and 

 suggested that (hose fruits may develop along lines of the purple 

 parent and form fruits of considerable size. The extreme "spini- 

 ness" of the stems of this hybrid may be noticed at 6 and 9, where 

 the prickles resemble in shape and are in hardness like those of the 

 brambles, making these i)lants disagreeable indeed to handle. 

 Upon October 23d the final harv^est was made, resulting in a total 

 of sixty-seven fruits, the largest being two inches in the longest, 

 (equatorial) diameter, and containing but few seeds. The smaller 

 fniits had all passed the pui^ple stage, but showed strong bands of 

 green radiating from the stem end, alternating with the orange that 

 was replacing the purple and green. Many of the smaller fruits 

 were, perhaps, not younger than the larger ones, but were uni- 

 fonnly seedless, to which condition the retarded growth may be 

 due. The excessive spininess of this hybrid is manifest in the 

 fruit stem and calyx, which were so covered with stiff prickles as 

 to make the handling of the specimens a matter of discomfort. 



Reciprocal Hybrids of American and Chinese Eggplants. 



Seventeen blend plants were grown this season of the "Dwarf 

 Purple" upon the "Scarlet Chinese" — represented in the records 

 by the fraction 6/25. This set of plants was veiy uniform in size 

 (two and a half feet high), and had purple foliage and stems, 

 agreeing quite closely with the male parent. The bloom appeared 

 the middle of June, and the plants continued to be full of flowers 

 until cut down by the autmnn frosts. There were only a few fruits 

 produced, and these were small, much corrugated, and of a light 

 orange color. The "Chinese" parent evidently was strongly pre- 

 potent in the fruit qualities, while the "American" seems to be 

 more influential in the vegetative organs, but, upon the other hand, 

 the "spines" of the "Chinese" were somewhat intensified. 



A total of seventy-six (76) fruits of this hybrid was gathered 

 upon October 23d, varying from two inches to three-fourths inch 

 in longest diameter. The smaller fruits were all seedless, and the 

 largest had only a few seeds. 



