256 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



market gardeners can supply the demand. The 

 price of fresh tomatoes in winter and early spring 

 is high, but gradually goes down as spring brings 

 in the crop from the Carolinas, Virginia, Delaware, 

 and New Jersey, to the New York markets. In 

 the gardens and fields of warm parts of the world, 

 the tomato plants are practically ever-bearing. 

 In colder sections they are sensitive to frost, and 

 are grown as annuals. Tomatoes for Thanks- 

 giving Day salads may be had in the North by 

 pulling up the plants and hanging them in the 

 cellar loaded with their green fruits. These 

 will ripen gradually, and so furnish the fruit long 

 after frost has killed the plants outdoors. 



EGG-PLANTS 



The botanist defines a berry as a fleshy pericarp 

 with many seeds. This is not what the horti- 

 culturist means, for a berry to him means a little, 

 soft, sweet fruit, without reference to its struct- 

 ure. Botanically speaking, the egg-plant, is a giant 

 berry. With it ranks the potato ball, and the 

 tomato, as well as currants and gooseberries. 

 And blackberries and raspberries are not berries, 

 but aggregate fruits. 



The egg-plant is one of the nightshade group, 



