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Papain, a Valuable African Product

says that Papain, the dried latex or pawpaw fruit, has in the last few years become a valuable East African export, A powder soluble in water or glycerine,

it is an extremely active fermenting agent, used in the preparation of medicines and cosmetics, and such processes as chill proofing beer, tanning leather and soften ing silk. It is produced chiefly in northern Tanganyika.

In the plantations devoted to the pro duction of Papain, it is noted that only the female pawpaw trees bear fruit, and the growth of the male pawpaw trees, therefore, is restricted to the few needed for pollination. The pawpaw trees usually are planted nine feet apart, and the plantations are kept clean weeded. Cul tivating is done mostly by machines.

Collection of the latex is simple. A framework, covered by cloth and shaped like a saucer with a hole in the middle (for the stem of the tree) is fixed onto the stem about 18 or 20 inches below the bunch of pawpaw fruits. A razor-blade fixed in a bit of rubber, and fastened to the end of a short stick, is used to lightly slash each fruit, longitudinally, eight or ten times. The latex oozes out and falls onto the cloth tray, and coagulates.

The coagulated latex is then gathered from the tree-stem trays into cloths, wherein it is carried and dumped onto fine wire trays, whch resemble, in ap pearance, single stretcher beds. Care must be taken to avoid any contact of the latex with the skin of the workers: it has a very strong corrosive effect on skin.

The latex then is taken to a hot-air kiln, where it is dried at a temperature of about 100 degrees Fahr. for 12 to 14 hours. This is the most important part of the process.

The pawpaw fruit can be tapped in.the manner described every ten days for about nine months of the year.

There is a demand for this profitable product, which should be worth the atten tion of Pacific Islands planters.