CHAPTER XIV 



VEGETABLES WITH EDIBLE FRUITS — SOLA- 

 NACEOUS PLANTS 



The plants included in this chapter all belong to the 

 Solanacese or potato family. They are tomatoes, egg- 

 plants, and capsicmns or peppers. All of them are 

 warm-country plants, very susceptible to frost or cold. 

 The seeds are rather small, and are commonly started in 

 pots, flats, or frames. Other plants belonging to the 

 Solanaceae are all the nicotianas, including tobacco ; also 

 belladonna, strawberry tomato or ground cherry, pepino, 

 tree tomato, henbane, jimson-weed, petunia. 



TOMATO 



This tropical American plant has been known to us 

 for only three hundred years. The large smooth varieties 

 have originated within the last forty years. The tomato, 

 whose home was, apparently, on the dry west coast of 

 South or Central America, suffers in damp weather from 

 many fungous enemies. Hence in a moist climate, like 

 that of Florida, the use of a spray of bordeaux mixture is 

 often a necessity for successful tomato-growing. To pro- 

 duce abundant fruits, however, this plant must have a 

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