File:The field and garden vegetables of America (Page 609) (6002646044).jpg

EGG-PLANT.
609
suit ; or, if preferred, the slices may be broiled as steaks or
chops.
Varieties. —
American Large Purple.
Fruit remarkably large, — often measuring eight inches in
depth, seven inches in diameter, and weighing four or five
pounds ; skin deep-purple, with occasional stripes of green
about the stem;
plant hardy and
stocky.
The American
Large Purple is
more generally cul-
tivated in this coun-
try than any other
variety. The plants
produce two (and
rarely three) fruits ;
but the first formed j
are invariably the
best developed. American Large Purple Egg-plant.
It is similar to, if. not identical with, the Pound Purple of
English and French authors.
Chinese Long White. Vil.
Quite distinct from the Common White or the Purple.
Plant of low growth, with comparatively pale foliage ; fruit
white, eight or nine inches long, two inches and a half in
diameter, and often more or less curved, particularly when the
end is in contact with the ground.
It is later than the White or Purple varieties, and nearly
of the season of the Scarlet-fruited. To obtain the fruit in
full perfection, the plants must be started in a hot-bed.