the Batavian agency by
the then manager, Mr. Ebenezer Cowley, from which some 600 seeds were
obtained. Of these, only a few germinated. The next mention is of the
distribution, in February, 1892, of six plants to an applicant on the
Mossman, and of two more in May of that year. Since then several young
trees have been raised at the nursery, and one of them, in January,
1913, fruited for the first time for twenty-two years, and is the first
to have done so in this State. Some of the fruit was sent to the
Department of Agriculture and Stock, and proved to be fully equal to
those of Java. A full history of the mangosteen and of its introduction
into Queensland is given in "The Queensland Agricultural Journal"
(vol. xxx., June and July, 1913). The photographs were taken from the
original fruit.

[Illustration: Fruit of Mangosteen.]

THE PAPAW.

Continuing our list of tropical fruits, we now come to the papaw, one of
our most wholesome and useful fruits. It is grown all along our eastern
seaboard in situations that are free from frost. It comes into bearing
early, and is a heavy cropper. Like the other tropical fruits already
described, it does best in our warmer parts, coming to maturity earlier,
and producing better fruit. In many of the Northern coastal scrubs it is
often met with growing wild, and producing fruit in abundance, the seeds
from which the trees have been produced having been dropped by birds or
distributed by other natural agencies. The papaw fruit resembles a rock
melon somewhat in shape and flavour, the fruit being produced in the
axil of the leaves all along the main stem, where they are clustered
thickly together. The tree does best on well-drained soils, and is very
sensitive to the presence of clay or stagnant water at the roots, hence
it usually does best on scrub land or land well supplied with humus. It
is propagated entirely from seed, which grows readily in such soils, and
under favourable conditions will bear its first fruit when about ten to
twelve months old, and continue to bear for three or four years or even
longer. When the trees becomes old, however, the fruit decreases in size
and deteriorates in quality, so that it is necessary to plant a number
yearly in order to keep up a regular supply. It is a very handsome tree,
with large spreading leaves on long stems, beneath which is its cluster
of fruit--as many as 100 fruits being sometimes found in different
stages of development