21 3 



will thrive in any ordinary soil, and are worthy of attention botli 

 their fruit and as ornamental plants. 



for 



PAPAW. 



HISTORY- AND USES. 



The fruit known under this name is the product of Carica Papaya, 

 a small evergreen tree belonging to the order Papayacen?. (By son e 

 modern botanists it is classed as a section of Paspifloracete). It is 

 indigenous to the West Indies and tropical America to Peru, but has 

 been widely distributed through the warmer regions of Asia and 

 Africa. The tree attains a height of about twenty feet, and has no 

 branches, the heads, which have a Palm-like appearance, being 

 composed of masses of large leaves with very long footstalks. The 

 stein is hollow, and this, 

 as also the leaves and 

 fruit, contain a large pro- 

 portion of acrid milky 

 juice. This juice when 

 diluted with water is used 

 for washing meat, which 

 it preserves and makes 

 tender by slackening the 

 fibres. It is also used 

 medicinally as an anthel- 

 miiitic and aid to digestion. 

 There are both male and 

 female flowers, which are 

 produced upon different 

 trees. The female flowers 

 are greenish-yellow, bell- 

 shaped, and the fruit, 

 which vanes somewhat in 

 shape, is the si/.e of a 

 small Melon. The fruit is 

 palatable, and is eaten raw 

 with sugar in the same 

 way as Melons, when 

 cooked, preserved in sugar, 



and, when half-grown, pickled in vinegar-. A kindred species, 

 Carica Ccindamarcensis, a small slender tree from Ecuador, where it 

 grows on the slopes of the Andes to an elevation of nine thousand 

 feet, also yields a good edible fruit. This fruit, which is from six to 

 nine inches long and nearly as broad, possesses a rich perf ume, and is 

 very palatable. The fruits ripen in succession, and are in season for 

 a considerable time. 



Papaw. 



