294 | The Journal of Heredity 
tree must be given in detail. In making it 
the only method which may be followed is to 
take the circumference of the trunk at two 
feet from the ground. It is desirable that the 
full height of the tree and spread of branches, 
as well as the girth, should be stated; if they 
cannot be measured exactly, they should be 
estimated. Photographs should, when pos- 
sible, contain some object, such as a human 
figure, which will aid in giving a realization 
of the size of the tree; but such figure should 
be beside, not in front of the tree. It is nec- 
essary that the photograph should include the 
whole tree. If there are other trees growing 
beside it and cutting off part of it these other 
trees should be included in the picture. Con- 
testants may send photographs of as many 
different trees as they like. 
With each photograph, a statement should 
be submitted telling all that is known about 
the tree, with reference to its age, the size of 
crop it bears, the quality of the fruit; the 
character of the soil and surrounding vegeta- 
tion. It is particularly necessary that photog- 
raphers should state whether there are many 
other papaw trees in the neighborhood— 
within a radius, say, of five miles. If the tree 
is on private land, and likely to be destroyed, 
the fact should be mentioned. It will be 
helpful if photographers can tell to what extent 
the tree is subject to attacks by disease or 
insects. In short, the council desires to gain 
as much information as possible about the 
papaw trees of the United States; but it im- 
poses as few hard-and-fast restrictions as 
possible, because of the varying conditions 
under which photographs may have to be 
taken, or under which they have been taken 
at some time in the past. 
The tree should be shown with full summer 
foliage. 
All photographs submitted will become 
the property of the American Genetic Asso- 
ciation, to be kept as a scientific record or 
used in any way taat the council may think 
desirable. 
In the award for excellence of fruit, 
it will not be necessary to submit a 
photograph of the tree, since many of 
the best papaws grow in dense thickets 
where it would be impossible to make a 
picture. It will be necessary, however, 
to give a description of the tree from 
which the fruit is taken, telling approx- 
imately how large it is, exactly where 
located, and whether or not it can be 
transplanted, or twigs obtained for 
grafting. The amount of fruit it bears 
should also be stated. The contestant 
must send by parcel post to the office 
of the American Genetic Association, 
511 Eleventh Street N. W., Washington, 
D. C., at least six fruits, all from the 
same tree, and all ripe enough to be 
eaten. The award will be made on the 
basis of the excellence of flavor, small 
number and size of seeds, but more 
particularly on the condition in which 
the fruits reach this office, taking into 
consideration 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, selection of the best for 
propagation can be depended on gradu- 
ally to improve the quality. 
The same tree may, of course, be en- 
tered 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 propa- 
gated 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, “I have been growing papaws 
for seventy-five years, not willingly 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 given good results, but 
this may be due to wrong technique. 
So far as is recorded, the papaw has 
not been grafted on any stock except 
its own, and there appears to be no 
necessity for any other stock. 
One of the promising fields for plant- 
breeding, in connection with the papaw, 
appears to be in hybridizing it with its 
close relatives, the tropical annonas, 
the genus which includes the bullock’s- 
heart, sweet-sop, sour-sop, and the 
