MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 115 
number and size of seeds, but more particularly on the con- 
dition in which the fruits reach this office, taking into con- 
sideration the number of days they have been in transit; 
for the great need of the market is for a fruit that will keep 
and ship well, and if these qualities are once obtained, selec- 
tion of the best for propagation can be depended on gradu- 
ally to improve the quality. 
The same tree may, of course, be entered for both awards 
—for size of tree and for quality of fruit. 
CULTIVATED TREES ELIGIBLE 
If anyone is cultivating the papaw and has produced a 
variety that he considers of superior excellence, it will be 
entirely permissible for him to enter this in competition. 
The award is not limited to wild trees; although the number 
of trees in cultivation is believed to be so small that it is 
probable some of the many wild trees will be found superior 
to anything known in orchards. . 
It is the hope of this association that the superior trees 
found will be propagated by grafting, and a large quantity 
of them secured within a few years. The papaw can be 
grown from seed, but only with difficulty from_ suckers,’ 
while transplanting is recognized to offer much trouble. One 
correspondent describes the general experience when he says, 
“T have been growing papaws for seventy-five years, not will- 
ingly but because I could not help it. It is claimed there 
is no way to kill a papaw except to transplant it and try to 
make it grow.” 
Grafting in the spring has been found to offer no great 
obstacles, however, and is the best means of propagation, 
from the plant-breeder’s point of view. Budding has not 
ven good results, but this may be due to wrong technique. 
far as is recorded, the papaw has not been grafted on any 
stock cap its own, ck Pars appears to be no necessity 
for any other stock. 
_ One of the promising fields for plant-breeding, in connec- 
tion with the papaw, appears to be in hybridizing it with its 
close relatives, the tropical anonas, the genus which includes 
the bullock’s-heart, sweet-sop, sour-sop, and the imcompar- 
able custard-apple or cherimoya. ese fruits are larger 
and finer than the papaw, but too tender to grow in the 
United States except in southern California and southern 
Florida. There would appear to be a good chance that they 
could be crossed with the papaw, and a fruit produced whic 
would be hardy in a large part of the United States, while 
