CHAPTER XXII. 

 EGG PLANT. % 



Egg Plant. Solanum melongena. 



French, aubergine ; German, eierpflanze ; Flemish, eier- 

 plant; Italian, petonciano; Spanish, berengena; Portu- 

 guese, bringela. 



Egg plant is one of the great vegetables in California ; 

 it is great in the size and quality, which are easily at- 

 tained, and great in its popularity. It is doubtful whether 

 any part of the world makes such free use of the plant, 

 and enjoys it through so long a season. Although the 

 plant is properly classed as tender, and is somewhat ex- 

 acting in the starting of the seed and in transplanting, it 

 grows riotously when well established in a favorable loca- 

 tion and soil, fruits freely and continuously, and it is not 

 unusual to find at California fairs specimens of six pounds 

 weight, while fruit of two and three pounds constitute 

 common stock with the vegetable peddlers. 



Location and Soil. Egg plant can be successfully grown 

 almost everywhere in California, but there will naturally 

 be much variation in its season, according to the local 

 occurrence of the frost-free period. In the frostless belts, 

 described in previous chapters, it is feasible to start the 

 plants in the autumn and secure a very early crop; in 

 most places, however, the plants can best be grown with 

 bottom heat in the winter, and fruiting secured all 

 through the summer and fall, if the nights are rather 

 warm and the heat not too fitful. 



As the plant will endure very high heat if well supplied 

 with moisture, and as it resists drought, when well estab- 

 lished, it is well adapted to interior conditions. It suc- 

 ceeds admirably in the interior bottom lands if water is 



