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the tree, as it is yet very early in the season. While 

 three-fifths of all the trees are bearing, many of 

 them are carrying only 3 to 10 fruits each. The best 

 production observed was that of a tree about 18 feet 

 high and 10 feet in spread, which was carrying 85 

 fruits, nearly all of them fine large specimens. It 

 may be noted that there is less variation in size and 

 form among the fruits of one tree than is common in the 

 cherimoya. In this respect the papauce resembles the 

 sugar-apple. In form the fruits are conical, oval, or 

 round. The largest specimens I have seen weighed a 

 pound and a half. The average size is between eight 

 ounces and a pound. The surface is rough, the carpel- 

 lary areas being indicated by deeply incised lines, and 

 each area giving rise, toward its lower end, to a short 

 point or prominence. The roughness of the surface varies 

 considerably among the fruits from different trees, as 

 also the color. About half the fruits examined in 

 Tapachula were pale green in color, and half more or 

 less magenta-pink. All of them are heavily overspread 

 with a whitish bloom which makes them very attractive 

 in appearance, and which has doubtless given rise to 

 the name anona blanca (white anona), used in Guatemala. 

 In the pale green varieties the flesh is white, in the 

 pink ones it is tinged with rose-pink. It is generally 

 considered here that the white-fleshed fruits are best, 

 as they are sweeter. This would conform with the 

 Mexican taste. I have met one American who told me he 

 greatly preferred the pink ones, because they were more 

 acid. The skin or outer covering is nearly a quarter 

 of an inch thick, soft and coarsely granular in texture. 

 The flesh is custard-like inconsistency, and in flavor 

 about midway between a good cherimoya and a good sugar- 

 apple. As nearly as I can recollect, it is almost 

 identical with the flavor of some crosses between these 

 two species , which I sampled at Miami , Florida, several 

 years ago. I am speaking now of the white-fleshed 

 varieties; some of the pink ones are considerably more 

 acid in flavor than either the cherimoya or the sugar- 

 apple. The seeds are about as numerous as those of 

 the cherimoya, but larger. I have usually found about 

 25 or 30 in each fruit. The Tapachulans do not pick 

 the fruits until they burst open on the tree. We ob- 

 served the same custom in Brazil in connection with 

 the cultivation of the sugar-apple. I doubt if the 

 papauce is sufficiently hardy for cultivation in south- 

 ern California, unless ib be planted in the most pro- 

 tected situations. It seems to be a fruit of the tropical 



