The Best Papaws 



n 



bushels to Los Angeles, Cal. They 

 reached their destination in perfect 

 shape. Later I sent several hundred 

 choice papaw seeds to Artesia, Cal., 

 where I now have a fine lot of trees. ^ 

 The trees readily sell at $1 per tree." 



J. C. Roach, De Kalb, AIo., October 

 12. Weight 7 to 8 ounces. This fruit 

 is of unusual shape, very long in pro- 

 portion to its breadth, sometimes almost 

 like a banana in form. The quality is 

 good, but not equal to that of the others 

 here listed; as a shipper, however, it is 

 perhaps the best of all, the skin being 

 notably tough and thick. The fruits 

 (eighteen in one box) all arrived intact, 

 although they were quite ripe, had been 

 on the road three days or more, and 

 were protected only in a few cases 

 by a light wrapping of tissue paper. 

 Mr. Roach states that his pasture con- 

 tains eight or ten large trees of this 

 quality, as well as many seedlings, and 

 that he will be glad to furnish seedlings 

 or twigs to those who wish to propagate . 

 the variety. 



Most of the papaws received came 

 from wild trees or bushes, but a few 

 people have already taken up the 

 cultivation of the fruit. Benjamin 

 Buckman, of Farmingdale, Sangamon 

 County, 111., sent a box with a nimiber 

 of named varieties from his grove, as 

 follows : 



Cheeley, secured from and named after 

 Jefferson Cheeley of luka. 111. 



Hann, from i\rkansas. 



Early Best, secured from W. C. Stout of 

 Indiana. 



Arkansas Beauty. 



vScott, secured from C. S. Scott of West 

 Virginia. 



Endicott, from George Endicott, Villa 

 Ridge, 111. 



Hope's August, from Anthony Hope of 

 Paint, Ohio. 



Hope's September. 



Uncle Tom, from J. A. Little of Cartersburg, 

 Ind. This is probably the first named variety 

 of the papaw on record. 



None of these fruits was larger than 



7 ounces, and they were not ripe 

 enough to allow a fair judgment of their 

 quality. - 



The largest tree found by this associa- 

 tion is 4 or 5 miles southeast of Boon- 

 ville, Warrick County, Ind. It was 

 found and described by T. P. Littlepage, 

 of Washington, who also sent photo- 

 graphs of it; but his photographs did 

 not comply with the conditions of the 

 association's offer, as they did not show 

 the tree in foliage. C. P. Close, of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, 

 had a photograph of the same tree in 

 full foliage, which he submitted at the 

 request of Mr. Littlepage and, with the 

 consent of the latter, the $50 to be paid 

 for the largest tree will go to Prof. 

 Close. 



Ordinarily the papaw does not reach 

 a larger diameter than 1 foot. This 

 specimen, shown in Figs. 9 and 12, is 

 6 feet 6 inches in circtmiference at the 

 base, 5 feet in circumference at 3 feet 

 above the ground, and 25 feet high. 

 It appears to be dying now, although 

 it still bears a few fruits ; Mr. Littlepage 

 attributes its decline to the fact that the 

 pasture in which it stands is growing 

 up in blue-grass sod. He states that a 

 still larger tree, 5 feet in circumference 

 shoulder high, is lying on the ground 

 near it, having been blown down a few 

 years ago; and he mentions another 

 flourishing tree northeast of Boonville 

 which he says is about 4 feet in 

 circumference. 



Other good records were sent in by: 



George Yaeger. Salamonia, Jay 

 County, Ind., 40 inches in circtmifer- 

 ence. 



George W. Harp, New Paris, Preble 

 County, Ohio, 403^ inches at 20 inches 

 above the ground. 



William D. Hewitt, 671 Bullit Build- 

 ing, Philadelphia (tree at Burlington, 

 N. J.), 2>& inches at 2 feet above ground. 



J. C. Roach, De Kalb, Mo., 38 inches 

 at 4 inches above ground. 



1 G. P. Rixford, of San Francisco, states that he has found bearing papaw trees at Santa 

 Barbara, Loomis, Berkeley (University grounds), Miller and Lux Ranch, Forest Ranch P. O. 

 (near Chico), and Coloma (Sutter's Mill, where gold was first discovered), in California, and that 

 some of these fruits seem to him of better qualit}^ than any eastern papaws he has eaten. 



2 Mr. Buckman's orchard contains altogether twelve named varieties of papaw. In addition 

 to those above mentioned, he enumerates Cox's Favorite, Early Cluster, and Propst Early. 



