Horticulture is the study and science of plant cultivation. Horticulturists work and research in the fields of cultivation, plant propagation, plant breeding genetic engineering, and crop production. Horticulture involves trees, shrubs, flowers, fruits, vegetables, berries, nuts, and turf. Horticulturists work to improve the quality, nutritional value, resistance to diseases insects and environmental conditions, and crop yield. Horticulture is the compound of the words horti, meaning grass, and the word culture (grass culture.)Some of the earliest origins of horticulture lie in the transition of human communities from nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary or semi-sedentary horticultural communities, where they would cultivate on a smaller scale a variety of crops in the immediate area of their dwellings or in specialized areas visited occasionally during migrations from one area to the next. The most widely know beginnings of horticulture are found in the Mesoamerican cultures, where they would use a method know as slash and burn or areas know as swiddens. The technique was to cultivate a plot of land and then after a few seasons they would abandon the site and cut down or burn the forests of a new area to cultivate that area.
For more reading on Horticulture: Principles of Horticulture 5th Edition
. By C. R. Adams - K. M. Bamford - M. P. EarlyPrinciples of Horticulture, Fifth Edition
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