THE POTATO AND NIGHTSHADE FAMILY. 545 



practice of some florists, we obtain a third generation still 

 more party-coloured ; and continuing the process, we arrive 

 at extreme variations, sometimes at monsters, which the pre- 

 vailing fashion regards as so many marks of perfection. The 

 essential point is that these varieties are purely individual 

 and without any natural persistence. Their seeds when 

 sown yield new forms, which have no greater resemblance 

 amongst each other than they have to the plants which pro- 

 duced them." 



Solanum. A large genus of annual or perennial plants, 

 natives of Europe and Asia, but principally of tropical America, 

 whence we obtain the Potato. The fruit of the Egg-plant, S. 

 ovigerum, is sometimes cooked as a vegetable, and is a tropical 

 annual easily raised from seed sown in heat in the spring. S. 

 (Ly coper sicuni) esculentum is the Tomato, or Love-apple, and 

 is now becoming popular as a wholesome esculent in this 

 country. It also is an annual plant from South America, and 

 is raised from seeds in heat like the last. There are numerous 

 seminal varieties which have been raised in America, as well as 

 in this country. Cuttings taken off in summer (July or August) 

 root freely in sandy soil or sawdust in bottom-heat, and if 

 potted in loam, leaf-mould, and sand, and placed on a sunny 

 shelf in a Pine-pit or vinery, will bear fruit very early in 

 the spring. Many species are now extensively grown in gar- 

 dens for sub-tropical gardening, and those which bear fruit 

 may be readily propagated by sowing the seeds in heat. Cut- 

 tings obtained from old plants potted in autumn, and placed in 

 heat, strike readily ; and the fleshy roots of nearly all the varie- 

 ties and species, cut into lengths of about an inch, and sown 

 in pans of light earth, and placed on a gentle bottom-heat of 

 70 to 80, root freely, develop latent buds, and soon form 

 plants. The shrubby kinds as S. pseudo-capsicum, S. capsicas- 

 trum, and their numerous varieties are readily propagated by 

 seeds sown in the spring (February) in heat, after which the 

 young plants may be plunged out in the open border to make 

 their growth, being taken up again in September. Cuttings of 

 old plants, headed down and placed in heat, also root freely in 

 a heated case, or placed on a gentle bottom-heat and covered 

 with a bell-glass. The variegated form of S. capsicastrum may 

 be grafted on S. pseudo-capsicum as a stock ; herbaceous scions, 

 with two or three leaves,, take well, and the operation is best 

 conducted in a close heated case. In 1874 Messrs E. G. Hen- 

 derson & Sons introduced a new conical-fruited variety, which 

 originated by chance in a batch of seedlings, and yet comes 

 true from seed. It is quite as beautiful as the large round- 



2 M 



