Extinct tree grows anew from ancient jar of seeds unearthed by archaeologists
Posted on 05/19/2015 6:51:40 PM PDT by Theoria
The most luscious watermelon the Deep South has ever produced was once so coveted, 19th-century growers used poison or electrocuting wires to thwart potential thieves, or simply stood guard with guns in the thick of night. The legendary Bradford was delectable — but the melon didn't ship well, and it all but disappeared by the 1920s. Now, eight generations later, a great-great-great-grandson of its creator is bringing it back.
The story of the Bradford begins on a prison ship during the American Revolutionary War. It was 1783, and the British had captured an American soldier named John Franklin Lawson and shipped him off to the West Indies to be imprisoned. Aboard the prison ship, the Scottish captain gave Lawson a wedge of watermelon that was so succulent, he saved every seed. When he got home to Georgia, Lawson planted the seeds and grew a popular watermelon. Around 1840, Nathaniel Napoleon Bradford of Sumter County, S.C., crossed the Lawson with the Mountain Sweet. By the 1860s, the Bradford watermelon was the most important late-season melon in the South.
The Bradford boasted fragrant red flesh, pearly seeds and a rind so soft you could slice it with a butter knife. The fruit was more than just a savory summer treat — its sweet juice was routinely boiled into molasses or distilled into brandy for cocktails garnished with fruit and syrup, and the smooth soft rinds were pickled. Home cooks often turned to watermelon molasses to preserve fresh fruit for the winter.
But the oblong, soft-skinned Bradford was never suited to stacking and long-distance shipping. In 1922, the last commercial crop was planted, and the melon wholly gave way to varieties with tough rinds.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
My dad grew a Black Diamond once that was so big that 'area powers' packed it up and shipped it to president Truman.
As a young boy, I sat on the side of the road and sold watermellons for ten cents each, mostly Black Diamond back then.
FReepmail me after your season with the results. If good, I’ll take 24 seeds for $5.
OK.....12 seeds....$10. right now, I have 3 viable plants coming up in hills. time to fertilize
My father has told me about a melon that his grandfather grew that was incredible. I think he said his grandfather ordered the seed from Kentucky. It had a very thin light green stripped skin, white flesh, and black seed. It was an oval melon not one of the round varieties, but it was a pretty small size.
I’ve looked for something similar, but have never found anything close.
There is something to be said for tradition.
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