242 GARDENING WITH BRAINS ^ 



spelled with two "w's," pawpaw. It is the tropical 

 fruit that has the digestive ferments in it; at least I 

 have never heard that our Northern fruit has any diges- 

 tive properties. I am not sure, however, that this sub- 

 ject has been scientifically studied. I will perhaps get 

 a chance to investigate the matter this year. The papaw 

 grows in Michigan quite abundantly in certain regions. 

 We have a town a few miles west of Kalamazoo named 

 Paw Paw because of the abundance of this fruit in that 

 vicinity. No attention has been given to it, however, 

 and it seems to be running out. Some attempt has 

 been made to improve the fruit, with more or less suc- 

 cess. It is an excellent fruit, almost the only fruit we 

 have which has a real tropical flavor. The mandrake, 

 or May apple, is the only other one. Both are good 

 fruits and I think ought to be improved by culture. I 

 believe they would be invaluable additions to our too 

 limited list of fruits. 



THE TROPICAL PAPAYA 



The tropical papaya, which does contain the 

 remarkably digestive papain (destined to super- 

 sede the ubiquitous soda mints), is not alto- 

 gether un-American, since it grows in at least 

 two of our states (Florida and California), while 

 on our Hawaiian Islands it furnishes more 

 enjoyment than any fruit except the banana. 

 The natives revel in its luscious flavor; I have 

 sometimes thought that the reason why the 

 Hawaiians are usually represented as persist- 

 ently cheerful and bubbling over with merri- 

 ment is because the juice of the papaya, con- 

 taining as it does papain in all its parts and 



