THE PAPAW THICKET. 



289 



nutritious. Negroes and raccoons, and opossums espe- 

 cially, are exceedingly fond of them, and I have some- 

 times found the hair of gray squirrels on the branches, 

 although I do not think that many animals eat them. 

 Horses and cows will not touch them, nor, so far as 

 I have observed, will hogs. I know of a dog, how- 

 ever, who will eat them greedily. Having observed 

 his master at it one day, and having, as was right, a 

 simple belief in the infallibility of his master's tastes 

 and preferences, he, too, has thought it is good for 

 food, and rolls his eyes, when he eats them, as if to 

 express ineffable enjoyment. 



The fruit, somewhat oval, is shaped like a short, 

 bulky banana, generally smooth and symmetrical, but 

 sometimes swelling a little irregularly, or slightly 

 bumpy, or bulging out unevenly on the surface, and 

 varying greatly in size, from mere nubbins no bigger 

 than one's thumb to fine, large specimens that are often 

 two inches thick and six inches long. They grow at 

 the ends of thick peduncles,^ sometimes in clusters of 

 four or five, but more often singly, or with but two or 

 three in a clump together, these clusters, indeed, not 

 infrequently thus resembling small bunches of bananas.^ 

 They taste best and are richest when a little over-ripe, 

 after a severe frost has turned their green skin to a 

 mottled black and yellow; but, if picked just before 

 frost, they ripen well in straw or bran. Every boy that 

 has known of them has had his secret store of papaws 



^ These peduncles are often covered with rather thick short hairs, 

 soft to the touch, but are more frequently to be found smooth and green. 



^ The odor of the banana and the papaw, too, is not unlike, — but 

 what a difference in the seeds ! 



