THE PAP AW THICKET. 



' For thee the wild grape glistens 



On sunny knoll and tree, 

 The slim papaya ripens 

 Its yellow fruit for thee." 



—Bryant. 



"Tall butternuts and hickories. 

 The papaw and persimmon trees. 

 The beech, the chestnut, and the oak." 



— Madison Cawein. 



'Wild plums and haws and berries, papaws, nuts, grapes, and all the 

 fruits of unguarded nature, have something in 

 them to feed originality." 



—Maurice Thompson. 



GROUP of papaw-trees, with 

 their long, broad leaves, colored 

 yellow in the fall of the year, is 

 one of the most beautiful and 

 characteristic sights in autumn 

 in the woods of our Central 

 States. Doubtless to most 

 Westerners it is quite familiar, 

 but perhaps a few facts about 

 our common papaw may be in- 

 teresting to people living in the 

 East, where it is altogether an 

 unknown fruit, or to others who have never seen or 

 tasted it. 



Like the breadfruit and banana, the papaw, when 

 very ripe, forms a natural, edible fruit which, although 

 excessively sweet, is really quite palatable, and is very 



286 



1, WITH A SPRAY OF LEAVES. 



