Cultivation

“ And yet cultivation is on an entirely different scale, a mere pot of earth taking the place of barrowsful under out-of-door culture. In the garden I simply place a plant at the requisite depth and in the proper exposure and soil; in the greenhouse a finer discrimination is called for. ”

“ Can anything be richer in product or more beautiful to contemplate? It is not its utility only, as I said before, that charms me, but the method of its cultivation and the natural process of its growth: the rows of uprights, the cross-pieces for the tops of the plants, the tying up of the vines and their propagation by layers, the pruning, to which I have already referred, of some shoots, the setting of others. I need hardly mention irrigation, or trenching and digging the soil, which much increase its fertility. As to the advantages of manuring I have spoken in my book on agriculture. ”

“ As crop plants are derived from wild ones, as the effect of cultivation, it follows as a matter of course that these will be varied, both in form and constitution, according to the circumstances under which they have been produced. ”

“ In size it is scarcely large enough for a field crop, but though not at present recommenced for the farm, its history may well serve to explain the origin of crop plants, as derived from the cultivation and improvement of wild species. ”

“ Shifting cultivation Shifting cultivation here means the cultivation of hominids and crops for human consumption on freshly burned vegetation area or forest within a fewer number of years than the time that area is left to natural regeneration. ”

“ Agriculture embraces, in its broad application, whatever relates to the cultivation of the fields, with the view of producing food for man and those animals which he may have brought into a state of domestication.
2. If we carry our observations so far back as to reach the antediluvian history of the earth, we shall find, from the authority of Scripture, that the cultivation of the soil was the first employment of man, after his expulsion from the garden of Eden, when he was commanded to till the ground from which he had been taken. ”

“ They mean what, in France, is called the small cultivation—that is to say, cultivation of superior articles, pursued upon a small scale—cultivation of flowers, cultivation of trees and shrubs, cultivation of fruits of every kind, and all that, in fact, which rises above the ordinary character of farming produce, and rather approaches the produce of the gardener. ”

“ The whole art of cultivation consists in learning the proper food and conditions of plants, and supplying them. We give them water, earths, salts of various kinds such as they are made of, with a chance to help themselves to air and light. ”

“ Every system of culture first means preparation ; it next becomes fostering care ; and then it results in harvesting and storing for future cultivation. In all culture, therefore* are implied these three factors of breaking the glebe, sowing the seed and growing the harvest, and reaping it for future use. ”

“ In thorough cultivation before the crop is planted, lies the secret of many a success, and in its neglect the cause of many failures. Intelligent handling of crops is in a large measure knowledge of the influence of wind and rain, sunshine and darkness, on the particular nature of the plant Delicate plants, for example, ought to be grown where buildings or forests break the force of prevailing winds. ”

“ Centuries of cultivation have converted much of the land into rich, productive soil, but a glance at a recently reclaimed field shows one the difficulties with which the original cultivator has to contend, difficulties that would surely daunt a less stout-hearted race. ”

“ But I have learned enough to be satisfied that soil has much to do in the successful cultivation of this fruit. A variety which flourishes in one soil will be almost barren in another. Hence, in the hands of one grower it proves a great prize, but in those of another it is comparatively worthless. Without doubt it is to this cause that much of the diversity of opinion as to certain varieties, as well as to the mode of culture, is to be attributed. ”

“ Intensive cultivation is an alluring phrase but in the production of many staple crops intensive cultivation is dear cultivation. The movement in progressive agricultural communities is towards a moderately large farm. ”

“ Before we trespass on the domains of arboriculture, horticulture, or agriculture, under which heads the cultivation of useful or ornamental plants divides itself, some consideration is required of those plants which, quasi-wild, are usually included in accounts of the vegetation under the head of aliens, denizens, colonists, and so forth. ”

“ Changes in plants produced by cultivation.—But if agriculture, it will be said, does not supply examples of extraordinary changes of form and organization, the horticulturist can, at least, appeal to facts which may confound the preceding train of reasoning. ”

“ It is evident, therefore, that the soil needs the cultivation of the farmer. Consider the trees: if they remain without a cultivator, they will be fruitless, and without fruit they are useless; but if they receive the care of a gardener, these same barren trees become fruitful, and through cultivation, fertilization and engrafting the trees which had bitter fruits yield sweet fruits. ”

“ The effects of cultivation have worked in two principal directions: First, the woods are cleared up, the water is confined within limits, the habitations of men are multiplied and enlarged and made more durable, and new plants and animals are brought in. ”

“ In my next chapter I shall venture to recommend those varieties which my own experience and observation have shown to be best adapted to various soils and localities, and shall also seek to prove that proper cultivation has more to do with success than even the selection of favored kinds. ”

“ Cultivation.—Soon after planting, and again just as the young plants are beginning to appear above ground, the field should be harrowed, inclining the teeth of the harrow backward. This is a cheap method of cultivation, since a wide space is covered. ”

“ As the corn shoots begin to appear every boy should appear with his hoe or cultivator, for one secret of good gardening is constant cultivation or stirring of the soil. Water, as you know, rises in the ground and coming to the surface evaporates. ”

“ Why should they, when learned pomologists are content to know as little as they? The trees are highly cultivated and closely side-pruned. The vigor of a tree, i. e. the rapidity with which it will grow, determines its favor. Sorts which take time, and require a longer treatment, are regarded with disfavor. Everything is sacrificed to rapid growth and early maturity.
Next, and proceeding in the same evil direction, comes the orchard cultivation. From what quarter have we, mostly, derived our opinions and practices in fruit cultivation? From French, English, and New England writers. ”

“ Cultivation.—The method by which the most judicious and appropriate culture may be applied to these lands, is a question of the greatest practical importance. The fact, I think, is established, that they possess most of the essential inherent properties necessary to successful tillage. They are of sufficient natural fertility; they are warm, genial and perfectly underdrained. The abundant crops they yield, afford the most conclusive attestation of the correctness of this opinion. ”

“ We prune, we nourish the soil, we cross-breed our plants. The [50] vegetables upon which the enthusiast for nature urges us to live are the product of science and artifice: thousands of years of cultivation, nitrates from Chile, skill of the experimenter, skill of the gardener’s hand. The same is true of the animals we breed for meat, eggs, or milk supply. Agriculture and stock-breeding seem natural to us—they were not natural in the distant past. ”

“ We must now consider how the different requirements of the plant in regard to the elements necessary to maintain its life and to build up its structure affect the question of manuring.
Under conditions of natural growth and decay, when no crops are gathered in, or consumed on the land by live stock, the herbage, on dying down and decaying, returns to the atmosphere and the soil the elements taken from them during life; but, under cultivation, a succession of crops deprives the land of the constituents which are essential to healthy and luxuriant growth. ”

“ In both cases man became skilled in harvesting long before he understood anything of the art of cultivation. Primitive man roamed from place to place in the wake of the annual wave of harvest, gathering wild crops of grain, berries and fruits. ”

“ Agriculture.—Elements of morphology or vegetable physiology. Climatic conditions. Elements of agronomy. Cultivation of herbaceous plants. Fruit culture: starting an orchard, and cultivation of pear, apple, peach, cherry, plum and apricot trees; storing and drying fruit; jam and preserve making. Vine and olive tree culture. Horticulture: laying out a small kitchen garden, and the cultivation of the principal kinds and varieties of vegetables. Gardening: flowers and ornamental foliage plants, trees and shrubs; plants for the house, flower cutting and arranging. ”

“ The effect of good cultivation can be determined, in a measure, by the condition of trees which chance to be so situated that the ground near them is kept clean. The results of fertilization can be estimated by observing the condition of trees standing near native houses. ”

“ This useful plant needs no cultivation. An experiment has been made to cultivate it, and answered extremely well; but the produce was not so much superior to that growing in a natural state as to make it advisable to bestow any pains on its culture. ”

“ When assigned yearly, by lot, that field which one man, by skill and industry, had brought243 into a good state of cultivation, was often taken from him, and he received, perhaps, instead, a field neglected and overrun with weeds. ”

“ That in the commencement of cultivation, when population is small and land consequently abundant, the best soils—those capable of yielding the largest return, say one hundred quarters to a given quantity of labour—alone are cultivated. ”

“ The cultivation of these plants being experimental, it is necessary that we should give every method of cultivation which appears reasonable a fair trial, and that only developed facts should influence us in giving preference to one method of cultivation over that of another. ”

“ Our own have also been greatly improved by cultivation. They have become an important article of commerce, and find a ready sale, at high prices, in all the leading markets of the country. Their successful cultivation, therefore, deserves attention, as really as that of other fruits. ”

“ It plays with man the function of care and training, of cultivation and domestication, with the lower animals and with the products of the soil. By diligent tillage, by the spade, the hoe, the plough, by irrigation and fertilization, the planter may greatly increase the yield of his field or his orchard and even refine, in a measure, the quality of his fruit or his grain. ”

“ The cultivation of specially selected forms is certainly of remote origin, and probably goes back to the earliest days of agriculture: of early date, too, is the introduction into regions where they do not occur naturally of plants desirable for their use or beauty. ”

“ The rooting up of gardens, orchards, cornfields, and fruit trees, which by their variety and growth discovered that the industrious hand of cultivation had been long employed to bring them to perfection, cannot be justified, more especially where there is a mind capable of looking forward to their utility and bake to the time and labor it has cost to bring them to maturity. ”

“ Cultivation, with horse-drawn cultivators, cleaning one row at a time, and by some implements two rows, repeated three or four times in a season, is given to kill weeds, aid in the retention of moisture, and aerate the soil. ”

“ When new land is first taken into cultivation the most effective use of it is found in the continuous production of some staple crop like wheat and corn, which can be grown, so long as the cream of the soil is not exhausted, year after year with large returns. ”

“ Field cultivation Field cultivation is growing crops on burned and cleared land. The soil is mechanically cultivated on an annual basis, or is enriched by periodical floods or other natural processes. ”

“ Soil appropriate for crops of grain, is also adapted to the cultivation of fruit trees, shrubs or vines. Occasional digging, mellowing the ground, keeping down underbrush and weeds, and manuring, are beneficial. ”

“ We are trained and raised in the European tradition, which considered shifting cultivation as a simple, primitive form of life without significant cultural organization. This attitude is probably the reason why researchers have thoroughly investigated shifting cultivation. ”

“ Men had long known that the seeds of some of the wild grasses and plants were good to eat. Now some one noticed that if these seeds were sown they sprang up and brought forth many more seeds. Then it was discovered that the seeds grew better and yielded a more abundant crop if the ground were broken up and made soft before the seed was sown. Because of these discoveries some men began to be farmers. By cultivation, the wild grasses which grew in the fields or beside the rivers were developed [Pg 127] into wheat, oats, barley, and rice, the great cereals of the world. ”

“ Its endless varieties, fitted for widely diverse conditions of soil and climate, also point to a long period of cultivation in dissimilar culture-areas, which enabled them to adapt themselves to conditions very different from those of the original stock from which they sprang. ”