THE GRAFTED PAPAYA AS AN ANNUAL FRUIT TREE. 5 



that "it will be understood that there is no means available for the 

 propagation of the papaya by asexual parts, as cuttings, buds, scions, 

 etc. Hence, seed varieties must be established by methods probably 

 similar to those used in breeding varieties of vegetables and flowers 

 which are not propagated by budding and grafting." ' 



Nothing, perhaps, illustrates better the untouched possibilities 

 of scientific plant propagation in the Tropics than the discovery of 

 the method of grafting the papaya which is described in this paper. 



THE PAPAYA GROWN FROM CUTTINGS. 



To Mr. Aston W. Gardner, of Kingston, Jamaica, we owe the 

 suggestion which has led directly to the investigation of methods for 

 the propagation of the papaya. In a letter written by him on May 

 30, 1912, he called attention to the fact that he had on his place near 

 Kingston papayas which he had grown from cuttings, and at the sug- 

 gestion of one of the writers he sent to the Office of Foreign Seed and 

 Plant Introduction a cutting, together with a photograph of trees 

 which he had successfully grown in tins way from seed of a good fruit 

 imported by him from Hawaii. It was this practically successful 

 demonstration which encouraged us to make a more thorough investi- 

 gation of the whole situation, with the result that successful grafts 

 have been made and are now growing at the Miami (Fla.) Subtropical 

 Plant Introduction Field Station. 



While it proved an easy matter to grow the cuttings of the papaya, 

 the process turned out to be so slow as to be of little value for condi- 

 tions prevailing in southern Florida, where it is of the utmost impor- 

 tance to grow and fruit papayas and get them off the ground within 

 15 months. The grafting of the papaya, on the other hand, has 

 proved to be eminently suited to these conditions, and it is believed 

 will prove superior even in the Tropics to the method of growing the 

 plant from cuttings. 



The bearing of this discovery on this neglected tree crop is well 

 worthy of the consideration of all whose fruit lands are below the 

 region of annual freezes, and it is even possible that the fact may 

 prove to be of interest to those whose operations are in regions like 

 southern Texas, where the temperature goes below freezing every 

 winter. 



Heretofore the difficulties surrounding the cultivation of the papaya 

 have been very great; that is, when viewed from the modern stand- 

 point of fruit culture, which demands uniformity of size, form, color^ 

 flavor, and ripening period. No modern horticulturist would think 

 of planting a seedling apple orchard, although all of the fruit trees 



i Higgins, J. E. Papaya investigations. Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station Annual Report, 

 1911, p. 26, 1912. 



[Cir. 119] 



