EDUCATION 



EGGPLANT 



1101 



forcing crops. Laboratory consists of practical work in crop- 

 production. Each student is assigned a plot in the greenhouse on 

 which he grows vegetables to maturity, assuming full charge except 

 in heating and ventilation. This is supplemented by descriptive 

 studies. 



Systematic vegetable crops. Lectures and descriptive studies 

 dealing with vegetable crops, their origin and botany. Special 

 attention is given to varieties, and their adaptation to different 

 cultural and market conditions. The important commercial types 

 of the different vegetables are grown in the garden each year, and 

 there is an abundance of first-hand material for the course. 



Advanced vegetable-gardening. The student's time is divided 

 between advanced studies of vegetable crops and their culture and 

 the study of a special problem to be agreed upon. An excursion 

 to two or three important vegetable-growing centers constitutes 

 a part of this course. 



Elementary pomology. A study of the methods of propagation 

 and early care of commercial fruits, including the growing of seed- 

 lings, cuttings, and layers; the principles of budding, grafting, 

 pruning, and planting; the soils, varieties, and planting plans for 

 the orchard. 



Practical pomology. A study of the soils and varieties for the 

 orchard; cultivation, cover-crops, fertilization, spraying, pruning, 

 and thinning as practised in orchard management; the picking, 

 grading, packing, storing, and marketing of fruit. This course 

 considers the apple, pear, quince, cherry, plum, apricot, and 

 peach. 



Systematic pomology. A study of the varieties of the different 

 fruits and of nomenclature, with critical descriptions; special 

 reference being given to relationships and classification. 



Bush-fruits. A lecture course which considers the grape, rasp- 

 berry, blackberry, dewberry, currant, gooseberry, and strawberry. 

 The topics discussed are: varieties, planting, culture, picking, 

 grading, packing, and marketing. 



Small-fruits and grapes. The strawberry, raspberry, black- 

 berry, dewberry, currant, gooseberry, grape. History; extent of 

 cultivation; soil; location; fertilizers; propagation; planting; till- 

 age; pruning; insect enemies; diseases; varieties; harvesting; 

 marketing. 



Spraying of fruit trees. A study of the preparation and applica- 

 tion of the spray mixtures used in orchard practice. 



Nuciculture. Lectures on the practical and systematic phases 

 of nut-culture, with special reference to the cultivation and improve- 

 ment of the forms native to the United States. 



Subtropical pomology. A study of citrous and other tropical 

 fruits, with special reference to American conditions. Laboratory 

 work in describing and judging the various fruits. 



Plant-propagation. Grafts; buds; layers; cuttings; seeds. 



Systematic pomology. A course designed primarily for gradu- 

 ates and students who are preparing to do experimental work. A 

 study of the characters and botanical relationships of the fruits of 

 the United States. Each student is required to collect and mount 

 a number of varieties and species. 



Research in pomology. Original investigation of problems in 

 pomology. A typewritten thesis is required. 



The equipment for the horticultural work usually 

 consists of classrooms, laboratories with tables and 

 sometimes equipped for microscopic work, and her- 

 baria; workrooms in which practice may be had in 

 the mixing of soils, the compounding of spraying 

 materials, the testing of machines, the study of vege- 

 tables and fruits, and the like; range of glasshouses; 

 and a number of acres of land for gardens and orchards. 

 Sometimes the orchard area amounts to fifty and 

 more acres. In some colleges the plant-breeding is 

 included with the horticulture; and in some of those 

 that are least differentiated the plant pathology and 

 economic entomology are also included, as also forestry. 

 In the courses detailed above, all these subjects are 

 excluded as horticulture, since they are likely to be 

 handled in regular departments by themselves in num- 

 bers of different courses. 



The subject of landscape architecture, or landscape 

 gardening, has developed in the institutions in the 

 United States from two sides. When it is an offshoot 

 of colleges or departments of architecture, or when 

 strongly dominated by architectural ideas, it is likely 

 to be known as landscape architecture. In the agri- 

 cultural colleges, however, the subject has developed 

 mostly from the horticultural or gardening side, and has 

 usually been called landscape gardening. As a part of 

 the curriculum, landscape gardening is given more or 

 less attention in nearly all the land-grant institutions. 

 In three or four of them, however, the subject is now 

 being given special and professional attention, as also 

 at Harvard. Two institutions in this country give a 

 post-graduate degree, Master of Landscape Architec- 

 ture or Master of Landscape Design. 



Other forms of horticultural teaching. 



The colleges of agriculture are engaged rather largely 

 in extension work, the extension meaning all educa- 

 tional efforts prosecuted at the homes and on the 

 farms of the people. The extension work is welfare 

 work, and it is properly a necessary part of an insti- 

 tution that is maintained by the people for the ser- 

 vice of the people. Some of this extension work is 

 horticultural. It comprises tests and experiments in 

 orchards, gardens, and greenhouses; cooperation with 

 growers' associations; surveys of conditions and indus- 

 tries; the issuing of popular bulletins and other litera- 

 ture; lecture-courses, reading-courses, and much corres- 

 pondence. See Extension Teaching in Horticulture, 

 page 1199. 



The experiment and research work of the institutions 

 is also of course educational, but this effort is reserved for 

 separate discussion. See Experiment Stations, page 1 195. 



In the public schools, there is now a strong senti- 

 ment for the introduction of agriculture. This pertains 

 in all parts of the United States and Canada. This 

 agricultural instruction will be organized eventually 

 on the same basis as other instruction in the common 

 schools. Agriculture will include a great variety of 

 subjects, the horticultural affairs being given their 

 due consideration. This will result in a gradual re- 

 direction of the youthful mind toward horticultural 

 and other rural pursuits. 



The nature-study movement is widespread and 

 established, and the material of the teaching is largely 

 of plants. School-gardening is growing in popularity 

 and importance. All these subjects are finding their 

 way into normal schools and colleges, in some of which 

 there is definite horticultural work for the training of 

 teachers. Correspondence courses, the rural press, 

 state departments of agriculture, and other agencies 

 and enterprises are also forwarding horticultural educa- 

 tion as a part of the general rural betterment. 



In the United States and Canada, horticulture is 

 largely a training for citizenship, on the basis of gen- 

 eral collegiate education. The Americans have had a 

 continental area to discover and to conquer; they are 

 endeavoring to conquer it by many means, and the 

 most fundamental means is by organizing all industry 

 educationally. The horticultural subjects are impor- 

 tant not only in themselves but in their personal appeal, 

 and the organizing of horticultural knowledge into 

 large plans and methods of human training is one of 

 the best privileges of any people. ,. jj. B. 



EEL-GRASS: VaUisneria spiralis. 



EGGPLANT (Soldnum Melongena, Linn.). Solan- 

 acese. GUINEA SQUASH. AUBERGINE of the French. 

 Strong perennial herb or sub-shrub, grown as a vege- 

 table-garden annual for its large fruits, which are eaten 

 cooked; requires a long warm 

 season. 



The eggplant is native of the 

 tropics, probably from the East 

 Indies, but its native land is not 

 known. It is cultivated to a 

 greater or less extent throughout 

 the entire tropical regions. The 

 first reports of its use as a vege- 

 table come from India, hence 

 the above assumption. In the 

 United States it is cultivated 

 as a vegetable as far north as 

 New York, but it usually grows to greater perfection 

 in the southern states. It is much grown in Florida. 

 The demands for it in the early months of the year 

 have not been fully supplied. Its cultivation demands 

 a specialist as much as either celery or tobacco, while 

 the specialization must be in a different direction 

 from that of either one of these. Nearly all of the fruit 



1378. Rotate corolla 

 of eggplant; stamens 

 connivent. 



