Concept

Horticulture

Summary
Horticulture is the cultivation of plants in gardens or greenhouses, as opposed to the field-scale production of crops characteristic of agriculture. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and non-food crops such as grass and ornamental trees and plants. It also includes plant conservation, landscape restoration, landscape and garden design, construction, and maintenance, and arboriculture, ornamental trees and lawns. In anthropology, horticulture refers to a subsistence strategy characterized by the small-scale, non-industrial cultivation of plants for food. Horticulture involves the use of hand tools such as digging sticks, hoes and carrying baskets. In contrast to horticulture, agriculture is viewed by anthropologists as a more intensive strategy involving the use of plowing, animal traction and complex techniques of irrigation and soil management. The study and practice of horticulture have been traced back thousands of years. Horticulture contributed to the transition from nomadic human communities to sedentary, or semi-sedentary, horticultural communities. Horticulture is divided into several categories which focus on the cultivation and processing of different types of plants and food items for specific purposes. In order to conserve the science of horticulture, multiple organizations worldwide educate, encourage, and promote the advancement of horticulture. Some notable horticulturists include Luca Ghini and Luther Burbank. Horticulture, from Latin hortus meaning garden and colere meaning to cultivate, focuses on the use of small plots, in contrast to agronomy which involves intensive crop farming and large-scale field crop production of grains and forages or forestry involving forest trees and products derived from them. It deals with garden crops such as ornamental plants grown for their appearance, fruits and vegetable and spices grown for their food value, and medicinal plants. There are several major areas of focus within the science of horticulture.
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