208 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Manr., 1898. 
Mr. Henry Pope. The survey will be finished in the course of five or six 
weeks, and it is expected that the tramway works will be commenced in 
February. The proposed line, which is about five miles in length, will cost 
£500 per mile. 
Mr. John Currie, J.P., is managing director, and Messrs. J. B. Pedlar, 
G. L. Bury, D. H. Mitchell, and John McNab, J.P., compose the board of 
directors. Mr. J. A. Malcolm is mill manager, and Mr. J. R. Isgar, J.P., 
secretary. : 
The illustrations accompanying afford a good idea of the design of the 
mill buildings. There are two sets of rollers; and the pulverised cane, after 
leaving the first set, is carried through the macerator, thence to the second set, 
where the last drop of moisture is expressed, and the once succulent cane 
presents the appearance of fibre flayed and rendered dry as tinder. Tt is then, 
by means of a mechanical contrivance, carried to the boilers and discharged 
into the furnaces. 
PAPAW (CARIOCA PAPAYA). 
By E. COWLEY, 
Manager, Kamerunga State Nursery, Cairns. 
THE common papaw finds a place in almost every garden in North Queens- 
land, and is to be seen in the edges of our scrubs. Its crown of palmate 
leaves forms no inconsiderable attraction to Southern visitors. The fruit itself 
is esteemed by many. It is called Mummy Apple in the West Indies, and 
that name is applied to it in Fiji. It would seem that this name is more 
appropriate, as the Mummy bears the fruit. Up to the present but little has 
been written on the subject. L. A. Bernays, in his “ Cultural Industries,” 
says that the fact of the male and female flowers being borne on separate 
trees gives the origin to the name “papaya,” the tree appearing to be so called 
in tropical America, which, although it is now scattered throughout all the 
tropical world, is its original habitat. The tree is said to have the property of 
rendering meat tender by suspending the joints under the leaves. The milky 
juice is considered to be a powerful vermifuge, but should be used with care. 
The leaves are sometimes used instead of soap in cleansing linen. ‘The papaw 
is one of the easiest plants to cultivate. Notwithstanding that it will almost 
grow in sand, it, like most other plants, likes good soil. 
Latterly, there has been considerable demand for the fruit, and it is 
very questionable whether the cultivation of the papaw will not be found to 
repay the farmer better than either sugar or coffee, should the demand be con- 
tinuous, and there is every sien that it will be so. In any case, at least fifty 
trees should be grown by every farmer, as the fruit when green constitutes an 
excellent vegetable which is nearly always available. ~As a fruit, it contains a 
certain amount of pepsine, which is good for the digestion, while with the 
addition of a little lemon or orange juice it forms a dessert dish approved of 
by most epicures. ; 
Up to the present time it does not appear that many new varieties have 
been described. As arule the ordinary papaw is almost sessile in the axles 
of the leaves. But the writer observed some four or five varieties in the garden 
of Mr. , on the Johnstone River, of which some were orbicular, others 
elongated, and on some the fruits were crowded, whilst on others they were sparse. 
One was of cxcellent flavour, and differed from any before tasted. At the 
State Nursery, Kamerunga, others haye developed peculiarities not seen else- 
where. One growing outside this office is developing three fruit on one spadix, 
the length of which spadices varies from 4 to 8 inches in length. This tree is 
