Where Cucumbers are grown for family use, it is of great advantage to cover the ground with straw, which will keep the sun from parching the soil in hot, dry weather, and prevent the blossoms and young fruit from being covered with soil during heavy rains.
EGG-PLANT.
Solànum Melongèna.—Melongene, Fr.—Tollapfel, Ger.
The Egg-Plant was introduced from Africa, and is called by some the Guinea Squash. It is generally cultivated, and becoming more so every year. They are cut into thin slices and fried, and have a taste very similar to oysters. Others use them in stews and soups. They are fit for the kitchen when they attain the size of a goose egg, and are in use till they become nearly ripe, which is easily known by the seeds changing to a brown color. Many individuals are exceedingly fond of them, while others will not taste them in any form. The following varieties are cultivated:
Large Prickly-Stemmed Purple grows larger than any of the varieties, and is frequently seen two feet in circumference; shape, oval; color, dark purple.
Smooth-Stemmed, so called because it has no prickles on the stem, does not grow so large as the former. Shape, long oval; color, dark shining purple; a few days earlier than the Prickly.
Long Purple is considered by some superior in flavor to either of the former; it is eight to ten days earlier, a very prolific variety, and the best for family use.
White Egg-Plant.—The name Egg Plant is taken from this variety, which is, when in a half-grown state, very like a hen's egg in shape, color, and size.
Culture.—There is a great ambition among growers to havo this vegetable in curly use. I delight to encourage this emu-
