THE PRINCIPLES OF 



VEGETABLE - GARDENING 



CHAPTEE I 



THE SUBJECT 



All plants are vegetables ; yet by custom we designate the 

 oleraeeous or esculent herbs in a class by themselves, call- 

 ing them " vegetables " in a restricted sense. The growing 

 of these plants is known as vegetable-gardening, an awk- 

 ward and ambiguous term, although now well restricted by 

 usage. Sturtevant propounded the term olericulture* 

 (ol'ericulture, from Latin olus, kitchen herbs), but it is 

 little used. Its etymology is good, but the word is rather 

 formidable, and it naturally implies only the culture of 

 vegetables, whereas the subject gathers to itself much fact 

 and interest not closely connected with the manual prac- 

 tices. This term should properly cover the subjects 



♦E. Lewis Sturtevant, Proc. Western N. Y. Hort. Soc, 1886, 25: 

 *'As we indulge in special studies we often find a necessity for additional 

 words to our language which shall express more definitely our subject than 

 those in common use. ... I suggest in addition pomiculture, or fruit- 

 culture, and olericulture, or vegetable-culture." 



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