290 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



ripening away somewhere in the mows, to be eaten 

 with great gusto when the time arrived. Picked too 

 green, however, they wither and decay, and do not 

 mature; and to taste an unripe papaw 

 puckers the mouth as badly as does 

 a green persimmon. Like most all 

 fruit, papaws are exceedingly enjoy- 

 able if picked when ripe direct from 

 the trees. There is then a fresh, de- 

 licious, creamy flavor which is a little 

 lacking in those that ripen on the 

 ground. The sweetish pulp is a 

 golden orange-and-yellow, like cus- 

 tard; whence doubtless its other com- 

 mon name, the custard apple, which 

 was, however, possibly suggested and 

 appropriated from the original trop- 

 ical fruit of the same name. The 

 seeds, surrounded by pulp, and in- 

 closed, like those of the date, in a 

 membranous covering, are large and 

 flat, sometimes bluntly triangular in 

 form, but more often resembling 

 those of the butter bean in size and 

 QUITE A CLUSTER ! shapc, and are a glossy brownish black 

 in color, as if varnished. Their shell 

 is very hard, almost like horn. In their growth they 

 are arranged at right angles to the ends of the papaw, 

 in layers generally of two seeds to the layer, the num- 

 ber of seeds, of course, depending upon the size of 

 the fruit, but ranging generally from two or three to 

 as many as a dozen. These seeds can always be seen 



