THE PAPAYA AND ITS ABLATIVES 243 



ing the pollination of P. ccerulea he says : " In the first stage 

 of anthesis, a large insect (such as a humble-bee) when sucking 

 the nectar, receives pollen on its back from the downwardly 

 dehiscing anthers. In the second stage the styles have curved 

 downwards to such an extent that the now receptive stigmas 

 are lower than the empty anthers. It follows that older flowers 

 are fertilized by pollen from younger ones." 



The passifloras are easily propagated by seeds or cuttings, 

 the latter method being preferable in most cases. Seeds 

 should be removed from the fruit, dried in a shady place, and 

 planted in flats of light soil. They do not germinate quickly, 

 but the young plants are easily raised, and may be set out in 

 the open ground when six months to a year old. Cuttings 

 should be taken from fairly well-matured shoots, and should 

 be about 6 inches in length. They are easily rooted in sand, 

 no bottom-heat being required. Cuttings of the purple 

 granadilla will often fruit in pots at the age of two years. 



Directions for the commercial cultivation of this fruit, based 

 on American experience, cannot be given, since no commercial 

 plantings, with the exception of a few small ones on an experi- 

 mental scale, have yet been made in this country. The fol- 

 lowing extracts are taken from an article by W. J. Allen in the 

 Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales for November 2, 1912 : 



"Although this fruit is not grown so extensively as it should be 

 throughout the many districts on the coast where it will do well, it 

 nevertheless plays quite an important part in some of the young 

 citrus orchards in the County of Cumberland, on the Penang Moun- 

 tain, and around the Gosford district, where it is frequently planted 

 among the trees. As it begins to bear very early, growers are enabled 

 to make considerably more from this crop than pays for the working 

 of the orchard until the young trees begin to produce crops of fruit, 

 which they invariably do after the third or fourth year. 



"Generally speaking, the vines are most productive before having 

 attained to four or five years of age. After that period they begin to 

 lose vigor and gradually die out, or cease to be very profitable, and are, 

 in consequence removed. 



