Carica. DIOECIA DECANDRIA, 825 
Papaw tree of the English. . 
The description of this plant in the Genera Plantarum is 
perfectly exact. It is cultivated in gardens all over India, for 
the sake of its fruit, which is used both green and ripe. 
When green they are used in curries by the natives, also pickled 
and made into a preserve. When ripe the interior, soft, yellow 
pulpy part is generally eaten without the addition of pepper 
and sugar, as in the West Indies; many like them much, and 
they are esteemed innocent and wholesome. It is likely that 
in this country they may be of a superior quality to those of 
the West Indies. 
_I made some experiments in the years 1790-and 1791, to de- 
termine whether the female would bear, and ripen its fruit — 
without the male, for which [reared a number of young trees 
in a garden situate at least a mile and a half fromany other | 
Papaw tree; as soon as they showed their flower buds, I 
could easily distinguish the male, and destroyed them all ; 
nine females were left, They grew most luxuriantly, being 
in a good soil and well watered, blossomed as usual, and the 
fruit grew till it was about half the usual size; then or before 
they uniformly fell off without appearing to oe more than 
the rudiments of seeds, In this manner they continued to 
blossom and produce half-grown fruit for fully one year, 
without producing one that came to maturity. I was 
then perfectly satisfied with the success of my experiment, 
and caused some male plants to be planted among them ; as 
soon as they had flowered, my female plants began to pro- 
duce large ripe fruit, their seeds came to the usual maturity, — 
and grew readily, 
The Linnean sexual system did not want additional proofs 
of its being established on the most solid foundation, other- 
wise the above related experiment is a very strong one. I 
know of no tree, or plant, so well adapted, to ascertain the 
necessity of the male being so situate, as to insure the in- 
fluence of its flowers on those of the female, to render them 
fertile. Since writing the above be Wynch informed me 
VOL, Il, Se 
