298 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



these trees will all be on the ground many days before 

 those on the others. The late variety is smaller and 

 more irregular in shape, and its pulp is a whitish cream 

 color. The flavor of this later variety is perhaps a 

 little more delicate than that of the earlier, which is 

 coarser in fiber. Many of these later papaws will be 

 hanging in clumps in October, and will still be hard 

 and firm, while those of their earlier neighbors will 

 all lie rotting on the ground. Yet the leaves turn 

 sooner than those of the earlier variety, and frequently 

 will be falling while the fruit is yet clinging to the 

 twigs. These peculiarities may perhaps be partly ac- 

 counted for by the situation of the individual trees, 

 but I think not wholly so. I have noticed, however, 

 that those in deep forest shade are usually of the ear- 

 lier type, and retain their leaves the longest. 



Papaw gathering is one of the delights of the 

 autumn, and the eating of them one of the feasts of 

 the year. I like to pick them, and to collect them from 

 the ground, where they have been shaken off by the 

 wind, or have fallen in their maturity. As I look at 

 them, these long, pod-like shapes, ripening through the 

 summer and autumn, I seem to feel a sort of primeval 

 instinct coming upon me; I feel an intuition that these 

 are unlike the other seed-vessels of the wild vines, and 

 I say, "Ha, man, here is something edible ! You need 

 no longer starve by the wayside." 



The papaw prospers best in its wild state, in rich 

 soil along the banks of woodland brooks, and the 

 thickets are sometimes so crowded together as fre- 

 quently to occupy the land almost to the exclusion of 

 the seedlings of the other surrounding varieties of 



