826 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May 2, 1892. 
The best of all kinds which I have ever tried is 011 ® 
prnwu ID Delhi, undf r the Damo of Maroo Baiojcan- 
BaiDgftD ia the uative generic uame of tbU plant, but 
Maroo ia, 1 suBpeot, a corruptiou of the Englieh wor l 
marrow* ae, wheu cooked, itR pulp has a marrowy deli* 
caoy. The fruit of this grows to the size of a oliild’s 
bead, and ia of a light purple. I do not know the 
origin of the word B^ingnn. 1 rnnr.ot find tluR plant 
in I)e CandoIle’R Orifftn of CuUhattd tlanU, [t may 
possibly be a Sourb American plant, originally intro- 
duced into India by the Portuguese. Tbo Frencli call it 
Aubergine, and also Molongeoe ; tho Italians call it 
Mclingiana ; nnd the English ia India often call it 
Brinjai. All these words, with the specific Latin name, 
Molongena, evidently have one derivation ; and the 
Indian name, Buiogan makes oue suspect that it is a 
further corruption ol the same name.' In India, amoog 
dyers, the word Baingni has been adopted to indicate a 
purple shade of colour, so probably the cultivation of the 
plantis of old dato- 
As tho French are fond «f Aubergines, they should 
note in Delhi are to bo procured the seeds of a very 
fine variety. It is never certain, however, that a good 
variety in one place will maintain its fine character 
when grown elsewhere. Tobacco, Tea, Cofico, the 
Vine, ^ 0 ., sufficiently show this; nevertheless, here- 
dity, as tliey say in Hindostan, is hari chin (a great 
tbiog); and it baa often happened that a plant retains 
its good qualities in the country and soil ot its adop- 
tion. Then what is the umo of man’s iutelligouce if, 
having once got hold of a good plant he cannot make 
it stick to its obartcler. or even improve it ? We 
know that the Tcmiito in England is now a " how-ia- 
it.we-ever-did-wiihout-it sort of both frnit and vege- 
table. The Aubergine ought, likewise, to bold iu time a 
•imiUr position as an adopted vegetable. 
It is not impossible that such a fine tbiog has not 
taken the fancy of English growers because they have 
not hit off the right way of cooking it, althongh Anglo- 
Indian hoosewives must know a good deal about tlie 
way of managing it for the table ; but they would like 
to find it iu thehbops at a reasonabic price. I fancy 
it would admit of being growu iu pots in summer, uudor 
glass, exactly as the Tomato is grown. 
For the beuefltof those who may happen to grow ihu 
plants of the purple variety, I herewith give one of a 
dozen ways of cooking the AubcrgiDo. In India, they 
have many varieties, some of them almost black, and 
as long and thin as Cucumbers; but the best 1 have ever 
tried is the Milroo B:\ingaii of Delhi. 
The rule is, first to “ oatch the best hare you can 
find." Tbo stalk and oaWx should be cut off, then the 
Aubergine sliced longitudinally, each slico of the thick- 
ness of abont a quarter of an inch. Place them fiat on 
a table or board, sprinklo salt over them, place another 
board on tho top of them, and some weights on that. 
The object of all this is to drain off, by the help of the 
salt, the bitter juice which some kinds contain. 1 do 
not think the Delhi variety needs this trouble. Then 
wash off the salt, dry the slices in a cloth, and fry 
them in lard, or any other frying material. Iu Italy, 
they fry them in .plenty of Olive oil (probably now they 
do it in Oottoo-send oil). In theoldentiiua they used 
to call these fritd slices of Aubergine, “ quaglie ” 
(quails), probably beoanao they thought them delicious. 
Sometimes after drying in a cloth they are powdered 
with flour, which, when fried of a golden-brown, 
gives them a crumby eppearance. Done in this way, 
they can bo eaten with meat, or, French fashion, as a 
separate dish. 
There are many other ways of cooking the Aubor- 
gino. Uoartted, or boiled aud peeled, and then squeezed 
in a cloth, they may bo used in. curries, iu orueletn, 
&c. They c.ui be stuffed with foroc-mHat aud baked, 
and in several other ways, but as tliis is not a paper 
OQ culinary subjects, I shall end bv stating tbat English 
growers aud Engli-h cooks will be unwise if they do 
not take to the Marco BAiugan of Delhi. — E. B. — (Jar^ 
deners' ChrQnicle% 
* Tho surmise ia correct Hee Yulo’s Ifohma- 
dohson 8. V. “Brinjaul” for tho curious history of 
the word.— Ei). T. A. 
TASMANIAN APPLES. 
“There ia a glut of Apples in the market,” said a 
morning contemporary, the other day; and “the 
Onuailiun crop of Apples this year estimated at a 
million barrels,” an evening journal had previously 
stated. All this, of courts, writes a corro^poudont, 
means a bnd lookout for low-class English pruduots— 
first-class will always ho’d their own auywhero ; and 
in tlioso few words the grower may read hia lesson. 
As time goes on, all the weedy sorts will luve been 
cleared from the market, and Apples worthy of tbo 
nnine will bo “worlh money,” as the sayiug ia. By 
the month of March next, people will begin to sigh 
for a tootbRome and cheaper Apple, and then— on 
oomo the beautiful varieties from Uobart, iu far 
Tasmania. Wo hive been threatened wi.h supplies 
from Australis; they would be very welcome, but they 
have yet to bo grown, aud it is just possible that 
Australia ia notan Apple-growing country. This, how- 
ever, from all aoooauts, TastUHaia is; we can readily 
take this lor granted, with tho vivid memory of what 
has reached m from that far-off British colony, rapidly 
rising into inportanco, for much of which it is indebted 
to its Fruit-Gfowertj’ Aasouiabiou, and the Agent- 
General, located iu the Broadway, We.stmioHter— a 
gentleman with a firm belief iu tho future of his 
country, and quite able to direct the oporatioos of 
those of his friends at ttiu Antipodes who seek to find 
favour for their wares in the English markets. A 
pioasaut interview with this gentlemau a few days 
smee was productive of mu ’h informatiou coacHriiing 
the Applosof Tasmania, from which wo reproduce the 
lollowiug, aloio^tt in the words of oar iaformiut. 
Three years sines, the import of Apples into this 
country from Hobart was some 30,000 bu-sheU ; in 
the year following -1800— the figures had risen to 
40000; this year the importation had risen to 140,000 
bushols ! lb may bo stated here that during tho snasou 
of 1801 considerable apace was seourod in tbuoool obam- 
hen of steamers loading fruit at Uobirb beyond thofirst- 
class fruit then at tho dUposal of the shippers. To 
save absolute loss of freight, inferior fruit was shipped, 
with the consequence tbat the price foil from the 
average oflOs to ISs per butbel of 188‘J and 1800 to 8i 
to 10s in 1891, Tt baa bean stated in the English press 
that the Tasmanian growers are satisfied with this 
lower rate : but they are not satisfied. Tho actual 
cost to the shipper in freight, &o., excluding the price 
of the fruit, ii over 7s a bushel, and the Is to 3* re- 
maining over is less than the prioo which can bo 
roalisoii in the colony. The Government have noticed 
tho mistake of putting anything but first class f'-uit 
on tho EnghNh market, and tbore is no probability that 
tho Tnamanian Fruit OrowerH* Association, which 
couducts the fruit exports, will allow such a blunder to 
be repeated. In tho season ot 18l)2 and thereafter, tho 
Britiab public need not anticipate tlio arrival from 
Tagmania of any but first-class apples. 
Ueapecting tho area over which apples are grown iu 
Tasmania, the Ageot-Geoeral infi’rnicd ns. that the 
acreage under gardens aud orchards iu lSS0-i)() was 
9808, agaiust G4o9 iu 1880-81, and this iocreaao is 
likdyto bo maiulaioed. It is anticipitud, says our 
informant, that in tun years hence the acreage will 
be extended to some 12, COD acre.4. To our thinking 
the increase will bo greater. Our informant hinted at 
the ^possibility ot an early start iu the production 
of j’eaclios and Ap^icot^ for thi.s market ; certainly the 
fruit would be eagerly bought up if in good conditiou ; 
and here, surely, what his been done may fairly be 
accepted as an earueab of what remaius to bo aocom- 
plished.— Chi'onicle. 
natural reproduction in the 
MADRAS FORESTS. 
It ia no now fact to be told that, whore protection 
is efiloiont both from tire aud grazing, the imlural 
growth in tho Forest Uesorves of the Prosideucy is 
excellent; and on the contrary, whoro it is not so, 
the uatnral growth is poor. All that the Forest Officer 
has to dO| therefore, ia to protect — and possibly diroo 
