CHAPTER XXV. 
THE TOMATO, CAPSICUM, AND EGG PLANT. 
“ It is a most sharp sauce : 
And is not well served in to a sweet goose.” 
Borneo and Juliet , II., 4- 
S HE plants to be treated of in this chapter are closely 
related botanically, and require nearly the same course 
of cultivation to ensure a profitable production of 
their beautiful and useful fruits. They rank in importance 
in the order of their names, the tomato being, in its way, 
a princely fruit ; but the egg plant, which stands last in 
the trio, is of much greater value as an esculent than is 
known to the world at large, for the delicious aubergine is of 
this tribe, and not the only one of the number that deserves 
to be valued for delicious eating. These plants are all tender 
in constitution, though our summers are usually warm enough 
for their full development if planted out at a suitable time. 
But to do full justice to them, they should be made the best 
of as pot plants, for they are, without exception, ornamental 
and interesting, and a certain select few are highly attractive 
and valuable for decorative purposes, notably so the larger 
kinds of capsicums. 
The Tomato, or Love Apple, Lycopersicon esculentum, has 
of late years passed from the rich man’s garden, in which it 
was exclusively located, and has become a citizen of the 
world, the welcome guest of every household, and the subject 
of the poor man’s special care. And no wonder, for like its 
cousin, the potato, it is so thoroughly useful and so accom- 
modating in respect of the cultivation it requires, that it 
suits every garden and every table, and, strange to say, gra- 
tifies every taste, for it was never heard that, when fairly 
presented, this noble fruit displeased anyone. 
A Summer Crop of Tomatoes may be secured by a very 
simple course of procedure. At the end of March or early in 
April sow a few pots of seeds of any of the large red kinds, 
Q 
