THE BEST PAPAWS 



Superior Fruit Found as the Result of Association's Offer — ^The Largest Trees 



— Importance of Proper Maturity of Fruit — Choice Varieties 



Merit Wide Dissemination 



THAT the North American papaw 

 (Asimina triloba; not related to 

 the Central American papaya, 

 which is sometimes called papaw) 

 is a more promising fruit than even 

 its admirers have believed, is the opinion 

 of all those who have seen the 

 material sent to the American Genetic 

 Association during the past fall. Better 

 fruits have been discovered than most 

 horticulttirists thought possible, and 

 no great difficulty has been found in 

 shipping them. It is hoped that the 

 discovery of these superlative varieties 

 of papaw will lead to their widespread 

 propagation and dissemination. 



It will be recalled that the associa- 

 tion last spring was enabled, through 

 the generosity of one of its members, 

 to offer a reward of $50 for the photo- 

 graph of the largest papaw tree and a 

 similar reward for the best papaws. 

 This offer does not expire until January 

 1, 1917, but as the papaw season is now 

 well past, and contributions have ceased, 

 there seems no impropriety in printing, 

 at this time, the results. 



Seventy-five samples of fruit were 

 received, the first on August 18, from 

 Rockway, Tenn., and the last on 

 October 23, from Purcellville, Va. From 

 letters of correspondents it appears that 

 the season extends nearly three months, 

 i.e., from before August 1 to late 

 October. 



Reports of 230 different stations of 

 the tree were sent in. They cover 

 almost the whole of the recognized 

 range of the species, as may be seen in 

 the attached map (Fig. 11). It is clear 

 that the tree will succeed in a very 

 large part of the United States. 



The best fruit received is considered 

 to be that sent by Mrs. Frank Ketter, 

 of 615 S. Sixth Street, fronton, Ohio, 

 on September 9. The three largest of 



the eight fruits weighed 10, 10 and 12 

 ounces. The latter is the largest size 

 reached by any fruit which the associa- 

 tion has received. Niimerous reports 

 have been made of fruits that weighed 

 a pound, or even more, but none such 

 was seen by this association. All corre- 

 spondents agree that the past summer 

 was particularly unfavorable to the 

 development of the papaw in the mid- 

 dle west, because of the long drought, 

 and this may be responsible for the 

 fact that no fruit larger than 12 

 ounces in size could be secured. 



CHARACTERS OF A GOOD FRUIT 



Mrs. Ketter's fruit, packed in excel- 

 sior, arrived in perfect condition, and 

 had matiured very evenly. The skin 

 is comparatively tough and thick and 

 does not discolor markedly; the flesh 

 is mediiun yellow in color, mild but 

 very rich in flavor, neither insipid nor 

 cloying. The amount and quality of 

 the flesh, together with the good ship- 

 ping and ripening qualities of the fruit, 

 make this an extremely desirable variety 

 and Mrs. Ketter will be paid the $50 

 offered for the best fruit. She writes 

 as follows : 



"The papaws that you received from 

 me in September were grown in dense 

 thickets consisting of locusts and mul- 

 berry trees, and it was impossible to get 

 a good photograph of the tree itself 

 while the foliage was on, for which I 

 was very sorry, as I wanted to tr}^ to 

 get one of the prizes at least, as I felt 

 that these papaws were the finest 

 around here and so many that go up 

 to our place want to buy some to send 

 to their friends, as they claim they never 

 saw such fine ones. 



"The tree is wild, receives no atten- 

 tion whatever, and bears well every 

 year. As this tree from which that 



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