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gardeners can do so, but on asking our Indian gardeners they 

 appear to know nothing of it. I have lately received a letter 

 on this matter, in which it is stated that a friend of the writer's 

 understands that it is possible to distinguish between the two 

 by the seeds. This is quite new, and I think unlikely to be 

 correct ; but in the Agricultural Magazine of Colombo for May 

 last, I find an article extracted from the Journal d' Agriculture 

 on " The changing of the sex in plants," and I quote here that 

 part of it referring to the Papaw ; — 



" In our experience the topping — or cutting of the terminal 

 bud — of ' male ' papaw trees / Garica Papaya) as soon as the 

 character of the flower is ascertainable, results in altering that 

 character and inducing them to yield good fruit in lieu of the 

 wretched specimens borne by the so-called male tree. 



" In this case, as with the date palms, there is no doubt 

 that the drastic treatment adopted, results in what is referred 

 to in the Journal 6? Agriculture TropicaJe as a concentration of 

 the sap. 



" In the Papaw the weakly nature • of the male tree is 

 characteristic, and the sex could almost be anticipated before 

 blossoming. Whether any such distinctive character is observ 

 able in the date palm we cannot say, but it is more than likely 

 there is. By cutting back, therefore, it is reasonable to sup- 

 pose that the sudden checking of the upward flow of sap to 

 meet the demands of the Dew growths in the region of the 

 terminal bud, brings about a turgid condition of the cells and a 

 corresponding concentrated or vigorous condition of the cell- 

 sap, which is thus enabled to develope the fruit-bearing organs 

 of the flower. 



" In a male or staminate flower, we must of course assume 

 that the pistillate part of it is only suppressed, and capable of 

 developement under extraordinary conditions. Suppression is 

 defined in ordinary botanical text books as the absence of parts 

 in a flower, which from analogy we might expect to find. The 

 correctness of this view is proved by the fact that we often find 

 an imperfect or partial developement of organs that should be 

 present under ordinary circumstances. To such partial de- 

 velopement of the pistil must be attributed the production of 

 imperfect fruit on the so-called male papaw tree. And that 

 the further developement of organs, which have, a tendency to 

 suppression, is possible by artificial means, is further proved 

 by the fact referred to above — namely, that the cutting back of 

 the plant in the male papaw results in the production of pistil- 

 late flowers. It will be found in actual practice that one 

 cutting back does not always bring about the desired result, 

 and that the tree has to be attacked more than once before the 

 tendency to suppression of the female organ is overcome. 



