The record-union., 1893-11-03
WATERMELONS
The Largest and Finest Are Still
Grown in Africa.

Grown in Africa.
By all accounts the watermelon origi-
mated in Africa and to the present day it
is confidently affirmed by travellers that
the largest and finest melons in the world
are still grown in the heart of the dark
continent. Both TO African and Cauca-
sian, however, the taste for watermelon
Is natural rather than acquired. Men
must get used to oysters; the taste for to-
bacco is acquired by long and sometimes
dlSagreeable practice; the love OF the cod
fish OF Newfoundland, of the Massachu
sets Bay, and the vipers of the Appe-
mines must be cultivated, but, according
10 the Philadelphia Press, all human be-
ingS take naturally to watermelon, and,
1t must be added, almost as naturally to
the stealing as to the eating. \ promi-
nent authority on the subject, dealing
with il in an epicurian fashion, says the
best way TO enjoy watermelon is, first,
to steal it; secondly, TO put it in the
spring until dinner time; thirdly, to take
IL out, break 1t open by pounding it on
rock and eat only the heart, one water
melon being deemed moderate portion
Tor one man. If this were the case and
such usage so far as eating were TO pre-
vail in the sections to which the water
melons are shipped, the business would
certainly increase to far greater proper
tlOns than at present.
The Stupendous nature of the business
may be guessed at, but not estimated, by
the reflection that every large city in the
North takes and eats Watermelons quite
as literally as the metropolis of the Mis-
siSsippi Valley. Some Statistician with a
keen nose for exact figures has estimated
that at the very least calculation there are
annually raised in the United States alone
10000, ,O00, 600 watermelons, and when to
| this immense aggregate are added the
enormous quantities produced in Mexico,
Central and South America, in the West
India islands, in south Europe, in PaIes-
tine, i'll Turkey, in Persia, India and
China, to say nothing OF the product OF
Africa, some idea OF the importance of
the watermelon as factor in the worlds
food supply may be gained. Water
melon may not be particularly nourish-
ing, in fact, scientists tell US that it is not,
but, as Amateur Scientist Sam Weller
once remarked in reference to 'weal pie"
1t is very filling for the price, and, after
all, no inconsiderable portion of the hu
man race regards filling as OF somewhat
more consequence than nourlShment. AS
factor in commerce the watermelon,
however, is by no means despicable.
Millions of dollars change hands in this
country every year for and in considera-
ton OF Watermelons. Thousands Of peo-
pie make part or the whole of their liv-
Ing from the national predllectlon for this
delicious fruit. The growers have some-
times made fortunes, but the growers are
not allowed to mOnopolize the benefits
arising from its production. The laborers
who do the actual work on the water
melon plantations live by means of the
melon: so also do the swarms of men who
perform the labor of harvesting the
melons when ripe. After being forwarded
to market, three or four sets of people
make the whole or part OF their living
out of the melon.