1 June, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 419 
easily cultivated—as easily, in fact, as the tomato, to which it is allied, being a 
Solanum. Care should be taken to gather the bringal before it passes its prime ; 
otherwise it is unpalatable. The purple-fruited, of which there are several 
varieties, is usually cultivated for the table; it should be picked before it 
loses its brilhant purple hue. There are several ways of cooking it; an 
approved way is first to boil it from 20 to 80 minutes, then to slice and fry 
it. .When thus treated, itis a delicious vegetable. I noticed when in 
London and Paris, last season, that the bringal was frequently in evidence. 
The price quoted was about 2d. or 3d. each. It is known in London by its 
French name, ‘aubergine’; this is probably because the London market is.. 
supplied from France. The bringalis largely known in India; it is also 
esteemed in Germany, Italy, and other European countries, but more especially 
in the United States of America. It is an annual, but it continues bearing for 
some time in Queensland. J have had it fruit three years in succession. I 
have grown the white kind, which is also edible, and recently a white, striped 
with purple, which was as good as the purple. The iHustration accompanying 
this is copied from Anderson and Co.’s excellent catalogue. 
In Caleutta, the egg-fruit, or “ bringal,” is served up in a delicious manner. 
The fruit is cut in halves, the seeds are removed, and the cavity filled with a 
savoury stuffing, in which is an herb which permeates the flesh of the fruit. It 
is then parboiled, and afterwards fried and served on toast with white sauce. 
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EXPERIMENTS ON POTATOES. 
Tue results of four years’ experiments on potatoes, carried out by the Agricul- 
tural Committee of the Wilts County Council (England), have been published. 
The’ results show that potatoes may be grown with profit for at least 4 years 
on the same land, with artificial manures alone, provided that the dressings 
contain nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash in suitable forms and proportions. 
The omission of any one of these ingredients of the mixture, regarded as a 
complete manure for potatoes, has reduced both the bulk of the crop and the 
profit on the manures. The omission of the nitrogen has caused the greatest 
loss, and that of the potash the least. The application of 83 ewt. per acre of 
artificial manure containing equal weights of nitrate of soda, superphosphate, 
and kainit proved more remunerative than either 43 ewt. or 12% ewt. of the 
same mixture; but 16 tons per acre of stable manure, valued ati 5s. a ton, 
produced a bigger crop and more profit than the most remunerative dressing of 
artificials ; while the greatest ll and most remunerative results of all were 
secured by means of 8 tons of stable manure and 8 ewt. of nitrate of soda, or 
an equivalent quantity of sulphate of ammonia. The best distances for 
planting appear to be 10 rows to the perch and 12 inches from set to set in the 
rows for early potatoes, and 8 rows to the perch and 14 inches from set to set 
in the rows for late varieties. With respect to spraying with the Bordeaux 
mixture, it is advised for late, but not for early, crops. Equal weights of 
whole and cut seed tubers yielded very nearly the same weight of crop. In 
some experiments on a rotation of crops, the most profitable results were 
obtained from the application of 43 ewt. of nitrate of soda, 3 ewt. of salt, and 
1 ewt. of superphosphate for mangolds; 14 ewt. of nitrate of soda and 4 ewt. 
of basic slag for eee ; no manure for beans, but seed treated with “nitragin” 
for beans; and 14 ewt. of nitrate of soda and 4 ewt. of basic slag for oats. 
LIME AND ITS USES IN AGRICULTURE. 
Dr. ArrKEN, in an article on “Lime and its Uses in Agriculture,” in the 
transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, fully 
explains the various effects of this common manure. Iarmers commonly apply 
lime to supply one of the principal constituents of plants, and to cure sourness 
