90 JOHNSON & STOKES 
dener the month of May is early enough to sow the seed 
under glass, for this plant grows with great rapidity in a 
warm soil, and May-sown seed not infrequently yields plants 
that outstrip those sown a full month earlier. 
The egg plant demands a richer soil than either the 
potato or tomato. It also asks for more water. It is a rank 
feeder. A good stimulant, if rotted manure cannot be had, is 
nitrate of soda at the rate of 400 pounds to the acre. 
The farm gardener will do well to consider his market 
before engaging in the production of the egg plant on an 
extensive scale, for it is a perishable product. It bears ship- 
ment well, but its use is mainly limited to consumption while 
fresh. It may command a very high price at some seasons of 
the year and at other times be practically unsalable at any 
price, owing to an over-supply. 
If egg-plant seed be sown under glass in early May, and 
carefully protected against cool weather (especially at night), 
the young plants will be ready to transplant before the end 
of the month and large enough for the open field in June. 
They should be set in rows 4 feet apart, and about 3 feet 
apart in the row. Set at these distances, an acre of ground 
would accomodate about 3,500 plants. 
The enemy of the egg plant, in growth, is the potato 
bug, which must be hand-picked or poisoned. There is a 
rot which causes the fruit to drop from the stem before 
reaching maturity. This rot is a fungus, and the Bordeaux 
mixture is recommended for it. The blight which some- 
times affects the foliage is in part at least caused by cold 
weather, and for this there is no remedy, except late plant- 
ing. 
Every healthy plant should produce from two to six or 
more full-sized fruits, and it is therefore easy to calculate that 
an acre's product under favorable circumstances may be very 
large. 
