Sow during April in rows twelve inches apart, and thin the seedlings to
nine inches in the row. Harvest, dry, and store the seeds when ripe.
The green leaves as well as the dried seeds may be used as seasoning.
EGG PLANT (_Solanum Melongena. Solanaceæ_).
The egg plant, or Aubergine, is very little cultivated in this
country. Even under glass it is not raised very successfully. It might
be worth while trying it on the lines of vegetable marrow culture, or
rather on that of outdoor tomatoes. In this case the seed should be
sown in heat in March, the seedlings potted up in 48-sized pots and
kept growing in the hotbed; as soon as the pots are full of roots repot
into larger, and so on until the end of May, when the plants should be
gradually hardened off and finally planted in rich soil in a sunny,
sheltered position about 14th June. Copious watering must be given,
the fruits thinned, and the plant should be pinched back in the way of
tomatoes when sufficient are set.
The fruit is ready to gather when of a fair size, and the flavour is
more delicious if gathered before too old. Generally speaking, the
fruit is ready to use from August onwards. The French scoop out the
seeds and stuff the interior with minced herbs, bread-crumbs, raw eggs,
and lemon juice; then serve with butter. The white kind generally grown
for ornament is not so well flavoured as the purple, known as the
Aubergine.