EXPERIMENTS WITH EGGPLANTS. 231 



set 2 feet apart each way. The soil was about 6 inches 

 deep, and different in character in each of the two 

 benches used. One bench had been filled with a mix- 

 ture of equal parts of potting soil and manure from a 

 spent mushroom bed. This formed a very open and 

 rich soil, which appeared to be capable of producing a 

 strong growth. The second bench received a rich, 

 sandy loam, which had previously been composted with 

 about one-fourth its bulk of stable manure. The tem- 

 perature of the house was that usually maintained in 

 growing plants requiring a considerable amount of heat; 

 during the night the mercury fell to 65 or 60, and in 

 the day time it stood at 7o-75. In bright weather the 

 house was still warmer. 



Considerable care was exercised in watering the 

 plants, the soil being kept somewhat dry : when grown 

 out of doors, eggplants withstand drought so well that 

 such a course seemed advisable when growing them 

 under glass. As the plants increased in size the leaves 

 shaded the soil, and an occasional thorough watering 

 maintained an excellent condition of moisture in the bed 

 filled with the loam. In addition, the soil was stirred 

 with a hand weeder when necessary. 



For some time all the varieties in each bench ap- 

 peared to be doing uniformly well, but the plants set in 

 the sandy loam made a stronger growth and appeared 

 to be more vigorous. This was especially noticeable in 

 Early Dwarf Purple and New York Improved. The first 

 bloom appeared on the former during the last week in 

 December, and on the 3d of January, 1894, several plants 

 showed flowers that were well opened. These were 

 hand pollinated, and they set fruit freely. On February 

 15 some of these fruits were 2^ inches long, the plants 

 still growing well and producing many blossoms. It 

 was at this time that the first flowers of Black Pekin 

 appeared, but New York Improved had not yet pro- 

 duced any, although it was making a strong growth. 



