218 Subtropical Vegetable-Gardening 



green fruits are cooked as a vegetable, and much resemble 

 summer squashes. Since the tree sets a larger amount of 

 fruit than it can properly carry to maturity, this removal 

 of many young fruits allows those which remain to in- 

 crease greatly in size. The unripe papayas thus furnish 

 an agreeable vegetable when properly cooked and seasoned, 

 and one which can be procured at almost any time of the 

 year ; whereas squashes cannot be raised in the hot season, 

 and are not much grown even in the cool season between 

 the tropics. The fruits are peeled and cut into pieces, 

 after the removal of the seeds. They are usually soaked 

 for some hours in cold water to extract the rather acrid 

 latex, and then boiled until soft. If they are cooked with 

 tough meat of any kind, they soften it remarkably. Since 

 the meat in tropical countries must, in the absence of an 

 ice-house, be eaten the same day that it is killed, this 

 digestive property of the papaya is of decided value. 

 The green fruits cooked with sugar make excellent pre- 

 serves. 



Papayas are grown only from seeds, of which each fruit 

 produces a large number. The seeds germinate easily 

 and rapidly. The plants should be set out when they are 

 about 6 inches high, in a well-drained soil, at distances 

 of 10 feet or more. 



The tree may be grafted by inarching, and cuttings may 

 be rooted, but these processes are slow and require so 

 much attention that neither has come into practice. 

 Budding may also be successfully employed. For this 

 purpose a plant two feet or more tall should be selected, 

 the top cut off in the tender portion, split as for cleft 

 grafting ; and a wedge-shaped bud two to four inches long 



