CHArTER VI. 



EGG PLANT. 



Solanutn melongena. 



This plant is a native of Africa and Tropical 

 America. In some sections it is known as Quince 

 Squash. It is very generally cultivated in this coun- 

 try, and highly esteemed for culinary purposes. 



Egg Plants are not grown in large quantities by 

 our market-gardeners, but they usually pay hand- 

 somely to the extent that it is safe to grow them for 

 market. Those who are engaged largely in this 

 branch of industry, and favorably situated, seldom 

 plant more than an acre of Egg Plants ; it would be 

 considered a large piece of ground to devote to this 

 vegetable. 



The Egg Plant is a tender annual, more difficult 

 to start in the Spring than smj other kind of vege- 

 table we grow. It requires more bottom-heat, and 

 for a longer time, than the other kinds of seeds that 

 are started in hot-beds. 



We sow the seed in drills, three inches apart, in 

 hot-beds, from the 16th to the li^dth of March, and, 

 when the plants are two inches high, transplant them 

 into another bed, two inches apart each way. Both 

 in the seed-bed and transplanting-bed the sashes 



