The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-08-19


method Of determining the matter was
certainly not very conclusive TO a prac-
tical gardener. Ny experience has been
that every well developed seed VIII
grow IL given a chance.
Papaia seeds terminate slowly; hence
the soil in the boxes should he kept
moist for "A long time. 1t is good
plan to cover the boxes with sacking
or other material to retain the mois-
ture; being careful to remove the COW
ering as soon as the plants appear,
which will be in ten days or two weeks.
When the plants are well up. a slight
application of fertilizer will hasten
their growth as 1t is important to keep
the plants moving from seed to matur-
ity. If young plant has once become
stunted 1t Is better to start over again.
Plants should not be over six inches
high when transplanted, as both roots
and stems of older plants are very
easily injured, and when injured Will
die Transplanting them must be done
with great care.
When the soil is of sufficient consist
ency the boxes should be wet down
! Just enough so that the soil will cling
together. If too dry, 1t will crumble;
If too wet 1t will all fall away from
the roots. Then remove one side of the
box and with "A trowel or other sharp
tool carefully remove each plant with
its ball OF dirt.
Plants should be placed not less than
eight feet apart My practice has been
to put two trees in each hole to ensure
a larger percentage of bearing trees.
The great consideration now is to keep
the plants in a thrifty condition. With
us this has meant further applications
of fertilizer throughout the life of the
plant, say every three months. Do not
be afraid of overlooking, or of giving
too much water If the drainage is good.
DO not plant anything between the
rows. The roots will permeate the
whole surface of the soil and will be
very jealous of any rivals.
The common practice of making
small hole for the tree in the midst of
a grass plot is bad for any fruit. but
especially so for the papaya, and eX-
cept in rare cases will result in a
stunted growth, and either no fruit at
all. or fruit of very poor quality.
Under favorable conditions fruit
should be picked in ten months or a
year from planting.
THE MARKET.
The market; so far as the raw prod
uct Is concerned, is of course very
limited, being confined to Honolulu
and what can be sold at the coast. So
far we have had very little experience
in shipping to the coast. One or two
shipments have gone very well, while
others have arrived in bad condition.
l believe that properly packed, they
can be sent to the coast successfully;
but it would take time and good hand
ling to build up any large market for
them.
AS to the canned product. others can
speak from a larger experience.
One point / wish to emphasize in
conclusion. I was told by prominent
Island grower that seed from the best
trees would produce some trees that
We're good bearers, and others that
would bear little or no fruit, or fruit
much smaller than that of the parent
tree.
The limited experience that I have had
leads me to believe that this Is not the
case that it is bad environment and
not bad heredity that is the cause of
the failure of some trees to produce
good results.
\ bit of personal experience will IL
lustrate my meaning. In a small part
of a certain field l planted squashes be-
tween the rows of young papaya trees
fertilizing the squashes heavily. The
squashes bore well; but as the trees
in that field developed, all the other
trees set fruit and gave every promise
of large yield, while those among which
the squashes We're planted seemed less
thrifty and set no fruit the young
fruit not maturing, but falling to the
ground
The difference was so marked that
after the squashes We're harvested, l
gave those trees an extra dose of fer
tilizer and in a few weeks they were
setting fruit. and eventually produced
as fine fruit as the other trees had
done.
Another point along the same line.
1t Is commonly remarked that as a pa
paya tree gets older, the fruit gets
smaller and smaller till the tree loses
all its usefulness. This | believe is the
result of nothing more or less than
the exhaustion of certain food elements
in the soil Experience so far shows
that two year old trees may be made
to increase the size of their fruit al
most if not quite equal to that of their
first years fruiting.
How long the life and usefulness of
IA tree may be profitably prolonged is
a question yet to be solved, but I sus-
pect that it is simply n question of
proper food within the limit OF the
trees natural existence. The very fact
that the tree bears fruit at all proves
its vitality. Spare the old tree. If it
get too tall for convenience in picking
simply cut off the top and 1t will
branch out below, but before you go
to the trouble of raising a new tree
give the old one a chance. dig about
1t and dung ii, and it will bear fruit
we'll"
Revising Teachers List.
80