Pleasant Grove Review | 1929-03-02 | Page 8 | Watermelon from Africa

Watermelon From Africa The traditional appetite of the colored col-ored man for watermelon is due to the fact that be acquired his fondness for the watermelon in the land of his origin, Africa, where they are found today growing wild. That watermelons water-melons were grown by the ancient Egyptians is proved by numerous paintings as well as carvings on monuments. mon-uments. The fruit was probably introduced in-troduced Into England some time in the Sixteenth century. According to Master Graves, It abounded in Massachusetts in 1620, only nine years after the landing of the Pilgrims. The Indians lost little time In adding the watermelon to their list of cultivated plants. In 1664 the Florida tribes were cultivating cultivat-ing it in their fields of maize, and nine ' years later Father Marquette found the Western tribes growing watermelons.