CHAPTEK XXXI. 

 EGG PLANTS. 



This crop is grown to some extent in the far South, in Florida, as a crop 

 to ship North, but is grown very little in the Middle South ; and again in the 

 Northern market gardens it is rather largely grown. The gardener from the 

 North, coming South, is surprised to find that in private gardens here it is 

 rarely seen, and in the markets of the Southern cities is rarely called for. 

 This is largely owing to the fact that, like the tomato, it is a more difficult 

 crop to grow in the South than in the North, owing to the ravages of the 

 blight, which is worse, if possible, on the egg plant than on the tomato. The 

 egg plant is a very tender plant, and the methods used for the production of 

 the tomato will hardly do for it, since any effort to harden off the plants in 

 frames is sure to result in a stunted growth and comparative failure. Our 

 practice is to sow the seeds about the last of February in a warm greenhouse 

 or a hotbed under glass, and as soon as large enough to handle transplant to 

 pots two and a half inches in size. As soon as the roots show around the 

 balls in these pots they are transferred to four-inch pots and still kept in the 

 house. Not until the ground is well warmed and vegetation active outside 

 should they be transferred to the open ground. We have then found that no 

 matter how much fertilizer may have been used on the land that a. top dress- 

 ing of stable manure as a mulch to the surface is always a great advantage, 

 particularly if the land is a dry clay and inclined to bake. We set the plants 

 three feet apart each way, and aim never to allow a crust to form on the sur- 

 face. The plants need as close watching from the Colorado beetle as the 

 potato plant. In fact, we think they are fonder of the egg plants than of the 

 potatoes. Rather than use poison we prefer to pick the mature beetles and 

 crush the orange colored masses of eggs on the under side of the leaves. If 

 the crop is very early it will be a profitable one, but later the price goes too 

 low for distant shipment. Many years ago in Northern Maryland, having an 

 abundance of vacant frames after our tomatoes had been transplanted to the 

 field, we set 600 sashes with two egg plants each, and kept the glass over them 



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