EGG PLANT 
The Aubergine or Egg Plant {Solatium melongena) is 
an annual half hardy plant, a native of South America 
and the tropical parts of Asia and Africa. It is widely 
distributed, and it has been known in this country for 
over three hundred years j but we have not made 
much headway as regards its culture or its cooking. 
There are a goodly number of varieties, but very few 
are grown in this country. The Messrs Vilmorin, Paris, 
catalogue nearly a dozen. All are not egg shaped, some 
more resemble a Cucumber or miniature long Marrow. 
Others are round and really very handsome when grown 
as decorative plants ; and their varied colours, white, 
cream, and purple, and other shades, are very telling 
when grown in pots. The American kinds are larger 
than others. One, the New York Giant or Purple, is a 
very fine fruit, round and purplish in colour. This 
variety grows freely, and the quality is very fine. This 
is a standard dish in the country named, and given frame 
culture is one of the largest. It is well worth growing 
in this country. The Chinese Brinjal, or as it is better 
known the Aubergine blanche longue de la Chine of 
the French, is a very distinct fruit, a long white, and of 
more substance than some others. There is the ronde 
de Chine or Noire de Pekin, a nice-shaped fruit of a dark 
violet colour. This sets readily, and is a very good 
fruiter. The de Madras also is a variety well worth 
attention. This is an oblong fruit, violet coloured and 
of excellent table quality. The long Violet and the 
Black Pekin, a very dark purple fruit, are well-known 
