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WHAT HORTICULTURE IS. 

 Let us first learn exactly what is meant by the word 

 ''horticulture", and we can then decide whether or not it 

 is likely to prove an interesting study. Now if you will 

 take your dictionary and look up the word "horticulture", 

 you will find that it is derived from the two Latin words 

 "hortus" and '*culfiirct\ The dictionary will also tell you 

 that the meaning of these two Latin words is — ''hortus''^ 

 — a garden, and '^ciiltura' — culture. Here we have it 

 exactly — and easily — ''garden culture". But just here we 

 must be careful, for in these days we have narrowed down 

 the word garden to mean a little place where we may 

 grow a few vegetables or flowers — and after that — lots of 

 weeds. Now where the old Romans used the word "hor- 

 tus'^ they meant an enclosed place, and so with the Ger- 

 man word "garten''\ and this enclosure might be of any 

 size up to the limit of the farmer's possessions. Within 

 this enclosure were grown fruits, flowers, vegetables, and 

 trees for useful or ornamental purposes. So the growing 

 of all these things is what is meant by the term horticul- 

 ture. If a man undertakes to grow grapes as the means 

 of earning a living he has taken up that branch of horti- 

 culture called viticulture or vine culture; if he grows ap- 

 ples, pears, quinces, plums, cherries, nut fruits, oranges, 

 or lemons — or the small fruits — such as strawberries — he 

 has followed that branch of horticulture called pomology. 

 The culture of vegetables is a division of horticulture 

 known as olericulture, and is of increasing importance in 

 the United States. In many sections of Illinois hundreds 

 of acres are yearly planted to rhubarb, melons, asparagus, 

 and tomatoes; these are shipped in many hundreds of car- 

 loads to the people of the cities. So you see the tables 

 of city homes far away are provided with vegetables per- 



