HOW CROPS GROW. 
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INTRODUCTION. 
iy 
The objects of agriculture are the production of certain 
plants and certain animals which are employed to feed and 
clothe the human race. The first aim, in all cases, is the 
production of plants. 
Nature has made the most extensive provision for the 
spontaneous growth of an immense variety of vegetation ; 
but in those climates where civilization most certainly at- 
tains its fullest development, man is obliged to employ art 
to provide himself with the kinds and quantities of vege- 
table produce which his necessities or luxuries demand. 
In this defect, or, rather, neglect of nature, agriculture has 
its origin. 
The art of agriculture consists in certain practices and 
operations which have gradually grown out of an obser- 
vation and imitation of the best efforts of nature, or have 
been hit upon accidentally. 
The science of agriculture is the rational theory and ex- 
position of the successful art. 
Strictly considered, the art and science of agriculture 
are of equal age, and have grown together from the ear- 
liest times. Those who first cultivated the soil by dig- 
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