EGGPLANT 



EGGPLANT 



1103 



time desired. If about 150 days are allowed from the 

 time of sowing the seed, the grower will have a good 

 field of fresh plants to start in with, which will produce 

 a higher quality and larger quantity of fruit. 



Marketing. It is better to cut the fruit from the 

 plant than to attempt to break it, especially if the work 

 is being done by careless laborers. After cutting the 

 fruit, it may be placed in large baskets and hauled to 

 the packing-house for crating. Each fruit should be 

 wrapped separately in heavy paper, either manila or 

 brown, and care must be exercised not to wrap it 

 while moist. Formerly the large crate was generally 

 employed, but in the last ten years there has been a 

 decided tendency toward reducing the size of the crate. 

 The eggplant crate is now about double the size of the 

 bean crate, and usually ships at the 80-pound rate. 

 The eggplant is regarded as a staple vegetable, con- 

 sequently fancy wrapping-paper or fancy methods of 

 packing do not pay for the trouble. It stands shipment 

 well to distant markets, so that freight shipments are 

 usually employed. At times in the winter and spring, 

 the price of eggplant becomes very high and then the 

 shipments go forward by express. 



Varieties. There are only a few varieties offered in 

 the market. The New York Improved Spineless 

 matures a little earlier than the Black Pekin. The New 

 York Purple (Fig. 1381), Black Pekin and the New 

 York Spineless are excellent for shipping purposes. 

 The above varieties are the black-fruited, and the most 

 popular in the United States, while the white-fruited 

 sorts are said to be the most popular in Europe. For 

 home use, the white-fruited varieties are preferable, but 

 as these make poor sellers in the United States, one 

 must raise the purple sorts for market. For home 

 gardens, the early and small Early Dwarf Purple (Fig. 

 1382) is useful. It is particularly recommended for 

 northern climates. There are three main types of egg- 

 plants, as follows: The commoner garden varieties, 

 Solanum Melongenavar. esculentum, Bailey (Figs. 1381, 

 1383); the long-fruited or "serpent" varieties, S. Melon- 

 gena var. serpentinum, Bailey; the Early Dwarf Purple 

 type var. depressum, Bailey (Fig. 1382). See Solanum. 

 The so-called Chinese eggplant is a different species, for 

 which consult Solanum. 



Seed-growing. This is by no means a difficult opera- 

 tion and may be done profitably in certain sections of 

 the South. For this purpose all defective or dwarfed 

 plants in the field should be cut out. By a little atten- 

 tion one will be able to know when the seeds have 

 matured sufficiently for gathering. At this time the 

 eggs usually turn a lighter color or even somewhat 

 yellow. The fruit should be gathered and carried to the 



packing-house, where it may be left in a pile for two or 

 three days, as there is very little danger from rotting. 

 When a sufficient number have been collected, the 

 laborers may be set to paring off the extra amount of 

 meat on the outside of the seed. The remaining core 

 may then be cut longitudinally into quarters or eighths, 



1381. Field-grown plant of New York Improved eggplant. 



1382. Sprays of Early Dwarf Purple eggplant. 



using a dull knife to avoid cutting the seed. After a 

 quantity of these have been pared, they may be placed 

 in a barrel and covered with water. The barrel should 

 not be made more than two-thirds full. In a day or 

 two fermentation will set in and the meaty portion 

 will macerate from the seed. The seed may then be 

 separated from the meat by means of sieves, using 

 first wide-meshed ones to remove the meat and then 

 finer-meshed ones to Screen out the seed from the finer 

 pulp. The seed should not be allowed to stand more 

 than two or three days in the macerating barrel, as 

 the heat evolved by fermentation and the heat of the 

 summer is liable to cause them to germinate. After 

 separating the seed from the pulp, it should be dried 

 in the shade and wrapped in secure packages. By 

 covering with tin-foil or oil-paper, the atmospheric 

 moisture will be kept out and molding prevented. 



Diseases. The most destructive of diseases in the 

 lower South is a blight fungus which attacks the plant 

 just beneath the surface of the ground, causing the 

 softer tissues at this point to rot off and the plant 

 to die. The fungus is not able to penetrate the 

 harder portion of the stem, consequently the plant 

 lingers along for weeks after being attacked. A 

 number of attempts have been made to cause this 

 blight fungus to produce fruiting organs so it could 

 be classified, but up to the present this has proved 

 futile. In such cases as this there is no remedy. 

 After the plant is attacked, it is usually doomed. 

 Much, however, can be done in the way of prevent- 

 ing the spread of this fungus. If all plants are 

 destroyed as soon as found to be affected, the fungus 

 cannot perfect its sclerotia, or rusting state, and 

 thus its propagating is prevented. The normal home 

 of this fungus is in decaying vegetable matter. If, 

 therefore, a field is kept free from this sort of 

 material one will do much to prevent this fungus 

 from being present. Some soluble form of fungi- 

 cide, as Eau Celeste or potassium sulfide, may DC 

 sprayed about the roots of the plants to good ad- 

 vantage. Practise rotation of crops. A second 

 form of blight is caused by Bacillus solanacearnm. 

 This disease has its origin of infection in the 

 leaves, and is introduced by means of insects 



