WHERE ARE THE BEST PAPAWS >? 
American Genetic Association Offers $100 for Information about Them—A 
Native Fruit That Has Been Long Neglected But 
Contains Much Promise 
of the United States, the least 
known is probably the papaw,! 
which grows in the forests from 
the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic, west 
to Oklahoma and as far north as New 
York and Michigan. As an ornamental 
tree or shrub, it is occasionally grown 
even beyond these limits. 
Belonging to the family of Annonaceze 
or custard-apples, the papaw has a good 
deal in common with those delicious 
fruits. Its creamy pulp is of exquisite 
texture in the mouth, while its distinc- 
tive flavor and its aroma, often too 
pungent, give it a decided individuality. 
The shiny black seeds occupy more 
space than is desirable, in most speci- 
mens. 
The poor shipping quality of the fruit 
doubtless accounts largely for the fact 
that it is so little known outside of the 
immediate localities where it grows wild. 
It is not considered eatable until it is 
dead ripe and has begun to turn blackish 
in color; it sometimes hangs on the tree 
until Christmas, although it will have 
reached maturity in the latter half of 
September, when the flesh is usually 
yellow, occasionally white. Good indi- 
vidual fruits, according to Little,? 
usually weigh about half a pound 
apiece, but sometimes they attain a 
pound in weight. 
Not only is it too soft to ship, under 
most circumstances, but it does not keep 
well after it is picked. Sometimes it 
can be held for a number of days, if 
picked a little firm, but ordinarily it 
must be eaten from the tree. 
The drawbacks of the fruit, then, are 
largely of acommercial character. They 
are drawbacks which can probably be 
(). ALL the important native fruits 
1 Asimina triloba Dunal. 
removed by intelligent breeding. With 
this idea a number of individuals have 
undertaken during the last few years to 
improve the papaw; but there is still 
plenty of room for work, and the Ameri- 
can Genetic Association therefore feels 
the desirability of calling attention to 
the papaw, and pointing out the attrac- 
tiveness of the problem it offers. 
BEST SEEDLINGS WANTED 
Among the wild trees along the creeks 
and in the underbrush of the river 
bottoms, there must be many a seedling 
which combines superior quality with a 
tougher skin and greater firmness than 
usual. Probably farmers have picked 
out some of these trees and transplanted 
them to the orchard. The American 
Genetic Association wants to locate these 
superior trees, in order that they may be 
made available for rapid propagation;, 
and a member has given $100 as a 
stimulus to the search for the superior 
specimens. 
Two rewards are offered from this 
fund. Fifty dollars will be paid for the 
largest individual tree, and $50 for the 
tree, regardless of size, which bears the 
best fruit. The offer will terminate on 
January 1, 1917, thus including the 
coming crop-season in which members 
(or others interested) can keep an eye 
open for superior specimens. 
The award for the largest tree will be 
made on the basis of photographs. The 
conditions to be observed are as follows: 
Photographs must be on glossy paper, not 
smaller than 4x5 or 34x 5% inches, and 
must be of sufficient excellence to allow repro- 
duction in the JOURNAL OF HEREDITY or else- 
where. Photographs in which the tree is so 
small that its details cannot be made out, can- 
not be considered. The measurement of. the 
So little is the papaw known that its very name has been stolen 
from it and applied, through a confusion in sound, to the tropical papaya or tree-melon (Carica 
papaya) which was described by J. E. Higgins in the JouRNAL or HEReEpITy for May, 1916 (vol. 
vii, pp. 208-220). 
The genuine papaw is no more related to this tropical papaya than it is to the 
apple or strawberry, and the application of the name papaw to the papaya should be stopped. 
2 A Treatise on the Papaw, by James A. Little, Cartersburg, Ind. Pp. 18, price 25 cents. 
This is the only thing published on the subject aside from an occasional magazine article. 
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