AmjJu°ne?iSrm"}         story  °f the  Papaw.  283 
height,  on  the  bare  coral  rocks  of  Yucatan.  In  parts  of  Peru  it 
grows  prolificacy  without  much  cultivation  or  care,  and  it  is  reported 
that  in  the  Transandine  regions  it  reaches  a  height  of  over  one  hun- 
dred feet. 
In  some  localities  the  plant  begins  to  grow  fruit  in  seven  months; 
in  others,  eighteen  to  twenty  months  from  the  seed.  Usually  its 
life  is  rather  short,  two  to  three  years  being  the  maximum  fruit- 
bearing  period.  (A  rare  specimen  was  observed  which  was  eighteen 
years  old,  and  was  bearing  one  to  two  fruits  each  year.)  The  fruit- 
ing of  the  papaw  is  abundant.  From  two  to  three  hundred  have 
been  gathered  in  a  season  from  a  wild  tree,  in  size  varying  from  an 
inch  in  diameter  to  that  of  a  baseball.  The  cultivated  plants  yield 
from  twelve  to  sixty  fruits,  weighing  from  five  to  twenty  pounds 
each.9 
It  is  reported  that  in  Brazil,  in  the  French  Colonies,  in  Algiers, 
and  in  the  Island  of  Reunion,  successful  and  extensive  cultivations 
have  been  carried  on.  In  the  island  of  Montserrat  a  large  acreage 
under  cultivation  was  some  three  years  ago  destroyed  by  a  tornado. 
In  the  island  of  Jamaica,  under  government  patronage  and  the  im- 
mediate direction  of  William  Fawcett,  director  of  the  botanical  gar- 
dens, several  attempts  at  the  cultivation  of  this  plant  were  under- 
taken on  a  large  scale,  but  the  results  were  not  encouraging.  Plots 
consisting  of  five  acres  in  the  first  instance  and  ten  acres  in  the 
second  were  prepared  by  clearing,  seeds  were  carefully  selected,  one 
portion  of  the  seed  being  sown  directly  in  the  ground,  other  portions 
sown  in  bamboo  pots,  and  the  young  plants  transplanted.  In  the 
first  instance,  a  rather  fair  proportion  of  the  trees  came  to  maturity 
and  began  fruiting,  but  at  this  stage  disease  set  in,  insects  attacked 
the  plants  and  the  whole  field  was  exterminated.  The  wild  plants 
do  not  seem  to  be  attacked  by  disease  except  after  injury,  but  the 
9  The  best  method  of  planting  papaws  is  to  raise  the  young  plants  in  beds  and 
as  soon  as  they  are  three  inches  high  transplant  them  into  bamboo  joints,  in 
which  they  can  be  kept  until  they  are  9  inches  high,  when  they  can  be  trans- 
planted to  the  open  ground.  In  dry  districts  they  will  require  abundant  water- 
ing, irrigation  twice  or  thrice  a  week  being  absolutely  necessary.  In  wet 
places  they  can  be  grown  with  little  or  no  water.  Papaws  require  good,  rich, 
deep  soil  and  good  cultivation  ;  even  then,  many  of  the  plants,  just  as  they 
should  commence  to  bear,  suddenly  fail,  the  plants  cease  to  grow,  the  young 
leaves  turn  yellow  and  fall  off. — (Wm.  Fawcett,  Bulletin  Botanical  Department, 
Jamaica.) 
