128 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS [BTH, ANN. 33 
DESCRIPTION OF DOMESTIC LIFE OF VIRGINIA INDIANS IN 1585; MENTION 
OF MELONS. 
From De Bry: 
“Some of their towns ... are not inclosed with a palisade, and are much 
more pleasant; Secotan, for example, here drawn from nature. The houses 
are more scattered, and a greater degree of comfort and cultivation is ob- 
served, with gardens in which tobacco... is cultivated, woods filled with 
deer, and fields of corn. In the fields they erect a stage ...in which a 
sentry is stationed to guard against the depredations of birds and thieves. 
Their corn they plant in rows... , for it grows so large, with thick stalk 
and broad leaves, that one plant would stint the other and it would never 
arrive at maturity. They have also a curious place ... where they convene 
with their neighbors at their feasts, ... and from which they go to the feast. 
On the opposite side is their place of prayer... , and near to it the sepulcher 
of their chiefs ... They have gardens for melons... anda place... where 
they build their sacred fires. At a little distance from the town is the pond 
... from which they obtain water.’ * 
In the light of what I had heard from the Indians and what I 
found in the writings of the first white men who came in contact 
with the tribes, I wrote to several persons, whose replies follow; these 
are self-explanatory. 
... As to Shawnees raising watermelons before the advent of our white 
brethren, I doubt it; I have never heard of their raising any melons except 
those whose seed was first given them by the early Jesuit fathers when they 
lived on the Wapakoneta in Ohio. However, they did raise a small pumpkin, 
which they called by a name meaning “little pumpkin,’ from which T deduce 
that they probably raised a larger variety, but of which they seem to have lost 
the seed. 
DECEMBER 4, 1914. PIERREPONT ALFORD, 
Beontuchka, Okla. 
I regret that I can not give you anything worth while about watermelons in 
North America. I have met the plant throughout the eastern United States, 
particularly in the Southern States, but only as an escape. 
JANUARY 12, 1914. J. K. SMALL, 
New York Botanic Garden, 
Bronx Park, New York City. 
We have the small round melon with the small black seed. We sell it under 
the name of the Pickaninny. ... I don’t know anything about the origin of 
this variety; we got it from a woman in Kansas. 
JANUARY 13, 1914. Henry Fretp Seep Co., 
By Henry Fievp, President. 
We have your favor of the 8th instant, and in reply mail you a copy of 
Burpee’s Annual for 1914, and for small fruited variety of watermelon refer 
you to the Baby Delight, described on page 21. We also have offered for 
several seasons seed of Burpee’s Hungarian Honey watermelon, which is early, 
1De Bry, quoted by Thomas, Mound Explorations, p. 622. 
