Prior to the 1800s, most people who called Ohio home earned their living through farming. Ohio’s original settlers, the Native Americans, at least partly supported themselves through farming. The Indians grew corn, beans, squash, and pumpkins. Besides multi-colored Indian corn, the natives developed varieties of eight and ten-row corn. The Native Americans grew numerous varieties of beans, including kidney beans, navy or pea beans, pinto beans, great northern marrow beans, and yellow eye beans. The Indians planted corn and beans in small mounds of soil and often pumpkins, squash, or melons in the space between. Ohio Indians grew many other vegetables, including turnips, cabbage, parsnips, sweet potatoes, yams, and onions and leeks. Europeans introduced the watermelon and muskmelon into North America in the seventeenth century, and Indians in the interior were growing these fruits within a few years…
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