HORTICULTURE FOR SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER I 

 HORTICULTURE AND PLANT IMPROVEMENT 



THE word "horticulture" is derived from two Latin words, 

 hortus and cultura. The first of these means a garden, 

 originally in the Greek an inclosed space for plants; the 

 second signifies care or cultivation. Literally, therefore, the 

 combination suggests the care of a small inclosed area. 

 However, the conditions of life change from generation to 

 generation, and the meanings of words change also. Horti- 

 culture is now not a question of inclosures, or even of gardens. 

 The original significance of the derivative is as out-of-date 

 as is the wooden plow of the Romans. 



1. Horticulture defined. Horticulture is the growing of 

 flowers, fruits, vegetables, and ornamental trees and shrubs. 

 In the aggregate, it is an industry which engages the atten- 

 tion of a great many persons and which represents the outlay 

 of large amounts of capital. From the limited beginnings 

 connoted by the Latin roots, it has grown, in America, to 

 the proportions of a business of great magnitude and has 

 become a major affair in the agriculture of the country. In 

 Europe, floriculture, or the raising of flowers, has received 

 much attention for a long period. In America, fruit- and 

 vegetable-growing have been especially emphasized, but orna- 

 mental gardening is gradually acquiring importance. 



2. Plant material. A brief investigation will show that 

 many varieties of cultivated plants are grown. Of the apple 

 alone, most popular and widespread of all our fruits, there 



3 



