12 THE PRINCIPLES OF AGRICULTURE 



follows : Discovery, exploration, hunting, speculation, lumber- 

 ing or mining. The real and permanent prosperity of a 

 country begins when the agriculture has evolved so far as 

 to be self-sustaining and to leave the soil in constantly better 

 condition for the growing of plants. Lumbering and mining 

 are simply means of utilizing a reserve which nature has laid 

 by, and these industries are, therefore, self -limited, and are 

 constantly moving on into unrobbed territory. Agriculture, 

 when at its best, remains forever in the same place, and gains 

 in riches with the years; but in this country it has so far been 

 mostly a species of mining for plant-food, and then a rushing 

 on for virgin lands." Principles of Fruit- Growing, 26. 



8a. Forestry is popularly misunderstood in this country. 

 The forest is to be considered as a crop. The salable product 

 begins to be obtainable in a few years, in the shape of trim- 

 mings and thinnings, which are useful in manufacture and for 

 fuel ; whereas, the common notion is that the forest gives no 

 return until the trees are old enough to cut for timber. One 

 reason for this erroneous impression is the fact that wood has 

 been so abundant and cheap in North America that the smaller 

 products have not been considered to be worth the saving; but 

 even now, in the manufacture of various articles of commerce, 

 the trimmings and thinnings of forests should pay an income 

 on the investment in some parts of the country. If a manipu- 

 lated forest is a crop, then forestry is a kind of agriculture, and 

 it should not be confounded with the mere botany of forest 

 trees, as is commonly done. 



9a. The word horticulture is made up of the Latin hortus, 

 "garden," and cultura, "tilling." In its broadest sense, the 

 word garden is its equivalent, but it is commonly used to desig- 

 nate horticulture as applied to small areas, more particularly 

 when the subjects are flowers and kitchen -garden vegetables. 

 Etymologieally, garden refers to the engirded or confined 

 (walled-in or fenced-in) area immediately surrounding the 

 residence, in distinction to the ager (la) or field which lay 

 beyond. Hortus has a similar significance. Paradise is, in 

 etymology, a name for an enclosed area; and the term was 



