October 16, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



551 



the meaning of the word garden. According 

 to philology, this word comes directly from 

 the Anglo-Saxon gyrdan, to enclose. It is the 

 root of the verb to gird, meaning to encircle. 



Gardening and horticulture, like farming 

 and agriculture, are synonymous terms. 

 We should remember, however, that the 

 full scope of the meaning of a word is not 

 determined by its derivation. This must 

 be sought in its general use and common 

 application. By this standard horticulture 

 readily separates itself into four great di- 

 visions, each of which may be many times 

 subdivided. 



These principal divisions are : 

 I. Pomology, or fruit culture. 

 II. Olericulture, or vegetable gardening. 



III. Floriculture. 



IV. Landscape-horticulture. 



The first two of the above divisions be- 

 long to the realm of industrial or domestic 

 art. The third, floriculture, is both an in- 

 dustrial and a fine art. While the last, land- 

 scape-horticulture, lies wholly within the 

 province of fine art. 



Horticulture is more than a mere trade. 

 It is more than a productive industry. Its 

 successful practice is based upon great laws 

 which have been deduced from the natural 

 and physical sciences. 



Many of these laws may be arrested, 

 modified or set in motion at will. 



The horticulturist, as he learns the con- 

 trol of these laws is largely in his own hands, 

 becomes an enthusiastic student and in- 

 vestigator, and can scarcely fail to develop 

 a love for rural life — a love that is deep and 

 abiding. Horticulture may justly rank as a 

 science, as well as an art. Not to speak of 

 the science of the propagation of plants, or 

 the science of tillage, the great fundamental 

 principles of evolution are exemplified in 

 horticulture as nowhere else. Over 6,000 

 species of plants are cultivated by the horti- 

 culturist, and these have produced almost 

 an infinite number of distinct forms. 



In these forms, with their wonderful and 

 intricate variations, we can study the laws 

 of genesis, and the master mind of Bailey 

 and others are rapidly reducing the wealth 

 of the facts found in greenhouse, garden and 

 orchard to the semblance of an orderly, sys- 

 tematic and progressive science. The influ- 

 ence of natural and artificial selection, the 

 effect of soil, climate and moisture upon de- 

 velopment, the transmission of acquired 

 characters, the formation of new species, 

 are revealed in horticulture as in an open 

 book. Here facts take the place of conjec- 

 ture, and demonstration is substituted for 

 theory. 



In discussing the relation that horticul- 

 ture bears to health, not physical health 

 alone, but intellectual and spiritual health, 

 have been considered. In like manner, the 

 products of horticulture, as well as horticul- 

 ture as a vocation or recreation, are taken 

 into account. First, let us consider the ef- 

 fects of the use of our common garden and 

 orchard products, as a part of an every-day 

 diet. 



There is a great deal of talk about health 

 and diet that is equally foolish and hurtful; 

 foolish because it subserves no good end, 

 and hurtful because it tends to fortify the 

 pernicious idea that our bodies are in such 

 Wretched condition as to need constant 

 tinkering, and that some sort of self-medica- 

 tion is a positive duty. 



Like malaria, this affection is everywhere. 

 How shall it be treated ? In the place of 

 this widespread delusion there should be 

 an inbuilt conviction that there are certain 

 articles known as foods, in the choice of 

 which and in the quantity used each one 

 has daily opportunity to exercise the virtues 

 of common sense and moderation. But 

 foods are not medicines. 



A medicine is something which is taken 

 into the body to produce a certain specific 

 and unusual effect, the object being to coun- 

 teract some injurious tendency or abnormal 



