242 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
has not been selected for a very long period in temperate regions. Nearly all the 
fruits seen in the markets were very small, and there seemed to be but one variety 
represented, of a light purplish or lavender color. In gardens the plants were 
mostly of small size and apparently rather sickly. In Jamaica similar difficulties 
in bringing the plants to a healthy maturity have been met by grafting the egg- 
plant on Solanum mammosum, the so-called “‘susumber tree,’’ a rank tropical 
weed closely related botanically to the eggplant. The grafts are said to produce 
fruits of large size and fine flavor, and, as the stock is perennial, bearing is con- 
tinual. The process of grafting has been described as follows: 
The stock is cut to the depth of 14 inches with a sharp knife and the cleft kept 
open till the scion is inserted. The scion (a piece of growing branch of garden 
egg about twice as thick as an ordinary lead pencil and about 4 inches long) iscut 
wedge-shaped and inserted in the cleft, so that the inner barks may coincide. It 
is then wrapped with soft string or woolen yarn and covered with a handful of 
clay. There should be no bark left upon the inserted part of the scion except that 
on the outside. 
It is considered advisable to pick off the flowers which may form during the 
first two or three months, in order to permit the plant to make vigorous growth. 
A contributor to the January number of the Jamaica Agricultural Society claims 
to have picked at least 250 fruits from such a tree, and adds: 
The tree is now about two years old, and so far from showing any signs of 
decay, it is increasing in size, and at the time of writing is covered with both 
bloom and fruit. I have from time to time pruned it in the samemanner as a 
coffee tree, leaving the center open, cutting off dead wood, and encouraging 
lateral growth. Buds take very readily, and a few put into susumber bushes in 
a rich spot near a dwelling would amply repay those who value the vegetable for 
home use. 
If these representations are correct, it would seem that this method of growing 
eggplants for commercial as well as for domestic purposes, is far preferable to 
permitting the plant to depend upon its own roots. The raising of seedlings is a 
difficult and uncertain process, owing to the attacks of insects and other adverse 
possibilities. Transplanting and watering are also troublesome and costly, and if 
all goes well only ten or a dozen marketable fruits are to be expected from each 
plant. The use of the more vigorous and hardy stock of the unimproved species 
offers, it would seem, every advantage in the way of protection against accidents 
or adverse conditions, saves labor, and would be much more remunerative. 
Another most important consideration also suggests itself. By pinching off the 
flowers during the seasons when fruit is not desired for market, the energies of 
the year’s growth could be concentrated upon production in the months when 
shipping appeared most advantageous, or during the early winter months before 
the Florida crop is ready. 
It is to be expected that such a possibility as the present will be duly appreci- 
ated by those interested in the production of .vegetables in Porto Rico. The 
experiment is easy and inexpensive, and should be tried for the tomato as well as 
the eggplant, and with other wild species of Solanum where these are locally 
abundant and vigorous. In Porto Rico Solanum torvwm (see below) is an - 
extremely common weed along roadsides and in waste places generally. It has 
a strong, erect habit, and is a near relative of the eggplant, so that it seems quite 
probable that grafting would be found easily practicable. 
Solanum nigrum. BLACK NIGHTSHADE. YERBA MORA. 
Specimens obtained at Ponce (No. 779) not noted elsewhere and not reported 
by Stahl. 
The plant is reputed poisonous, but the berries are often eaten. 
Solanum persicaefolium. BERENGENA DE PLAYA. 
A branched shrub found along sandy beaches; 1 meter high. (Stahl, 6: 130.) 

