EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 399 



between the ground upon which it rests and the branch above that 

 bears it. While in weight it may not be heavier than the oval "New 

 York Improved," it is often nearly twice as long, and therefore of a 

 much superior shape for cooking, A large " egg" of the oval type 

 is not well suited for the frying pan, while the new cross bears fruits 

 that, when gathered at the right time, are Just right for slicing and 

 make pieces of the most convenient size for the table. The serious 

 objections to the " Long Purple," as grown here for several years, 

 has been their small size and lateness in coming into bearing and 

 lack of fruitful ness. The quality is superior, and the small slices, 

 when properly prepared, suggest strongly the oyster without their 

 disagreeable features to those whose defective digestion is insufficient 

 for the bivalve. 



The "Long Purple" fruit has the seeds confined to its lower half, 

 that is, in the free or lower end. In the "New York Improved" 

 the seeds are more generally distributed throughout the fruit. The 

 cross yields a long fruit, from which more than half of the slices taken 

 are solid flesh, while the others are firm because the seeding tendency 

 is not greatly developed. 



The plants of this cross have proved of remarkable vigor, so great, 

 in fact, that it has been Suggested that for this reason alone the cross 

 is a great gain. They began to yield marketable fruits by July 20th, 

 while it was August 8th before fruit could be gathered from the "New 

 York Improved." The crossed plants were practically one month 

 earlier than the "New York Improved" and fully six weeks in 

 advance of the "Long Purple." The latter were only beginning to 

 flower by August 8th, and marketable fruits were rare until after 

 September 10th, 



The crossed and parent plants seemed to be equally afifected by the 

 fruit rot. 



The greater gain of the cross is in the qualities found in the fruit 

 already mentioned, namely, its perfect color, its desirable size and 

 shape, being exceedingly attractive to the eye and permitting of con- 

 venient slicing for cooking, the large portion without seeds and 

 possessing the high quality of the ' ' Long Purple, ' ' with none of its 

 defects. 



It still remains to be determined whether the cross will maintain 

 itself in the years to come. For the present, it can only be said that 

 there has been but little variation from the shape mentioned. In 

 fact, the whole lot of eggplants has yielded fruits as uniform as any 

 of the old standard sorts the writer has seen. This does not preclude 



