The Iowa Experiment Station showed that untrained tomato vines gave the smallest yield and the largest percentage of decayed fruit; that staked vines gave a much larger percentage of sound fruit and the least percentage of decayed fruit of the whole experiment; that hilling up did not give any striking results in any direction; and that, while mulching enormously increased the yield, it also greatly increased the tendency to rot. Because tomatoes suffer so from frost, it is wise to hasten fruiting by every means, but if frost strikes before the fruits are ripe, the large green ones may be picked and placed in drawers or other dry, close places to ripen. Generally they color well and develop a good quality. If the fruits have not reached full size, the whole plant may be pulled with the fruits on, and hung upside down in a barn or dry building, and they will continue to draw nourishment from the plant and sometimes ripen. From one ounce of seed you may expect from 2000 to 2500 plants; if planted in hills three by four feet apart, an acre will require 3630 plants. A large yield of tomatoes is from 12 to 16 tons per acre; the average is much below this. The favorite tomato in the American market is large, round and smooth, the Angular and other irregular-shaped varieties bringing a much lower price. Varieties run out so quickly that it is not advisable to give the names. The friend that you make in the seed store will be able to keep you posted about such things—you can look in his eyes and tell if he is lying, which you can’t do with a catalogue. Or you can ask the Agricultural Editor. EGGPLANT. You treat eggplants just as you do tomatoes, except that they need even greater care that the young plants are not checked in their growth, and a longer season. Eggplant is really a hot-climate crop, and so requires especial attention for early ripening in the Northern States. It grows best in the South, but does well as far north as New Jersey and Long Island. Further north it is seldom grown for more than home use. Eggplant needs a long season, sunny exposure, a warm, loose, and rather dry but rich soil. It is started in the hot-bed and not transplanted until from six to ten inches high. It is such a finicky crop that if the plants are crowded or stunted even in the hot-bed, the yield is seriously reduced. For this reason, growers often start it in two-inch or three-inch flower pots, or in old, small berry baskets, as it is less likely to suffer a check when transplanted to the garden. Eggplants do not need so much moisture as peas or cool-season crops, and whatever fertilizer is applied must be quickly available. Perfect tillage is necessary from first to last.