Scholarship and Literature in Horticulture (original) (raw)
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Horticulture, Horticultural Science, and 100 Years of ASHS
HortScience, 2003
subject to change. The process is cumulative and science is alive only when it grows. When any society claims to know the complete truth such that further question is heresy, science dies. Horticultural knowledge accumulation has always been in a state of tension between the mundane empiricism of the gardening arts discovered by generations of growers in contrast to information generated by scientists, often academics, sometimes indifferent to the uses of their discoveries and often obsessed by the irrelevant. In the 1900s, horticultural science was considered an oxymoron. One hundred years later, we are a Society that rejects this taunt and have demonstrated that horticultural science is a truly humanistic plant science, concerned with all information relevant to the interaction of humans and the plants that serve them. Our goal is the betterment of humankind. Throughout this paper, we will discuss a number of significant advancements in science that have been made by horticulturists or by plant scientists using horticultural plants and later applied to agriculture and other fields. For example, Gregor Mendel s groundbreaking discovery of the principles of heredity in a monastery garden led to what might be considered the most important scientific revolution in modern times: the flow of genetic information from generation to generation. Photoperiodic effects on plant growth, first reported by W.W. Garner and H.A. Allard on a number of horticultural crops in 1920, set the stage for understanding the relationship between crop production, light, and temperature. Fieldlevel photosynthetic rates were first measured by A.J. Heinicke and N.F. Childers in the 1930s using an apple-tree model. These concepts were later applied to many agricultural and ecological situations to evaluate carbon dioxide fixation and photosynthetic rates. L.R. Jones and J.C. Walker developed the concept of genetic control of plant disease resistance in their work with cabbage, leading to widespread efforts to use breeding techniques to obtain host plant resistance. H.A. Jones and A.F. Clarke discovered the cytoplasmic-genic system of hybrid seed production in onion, which revolutionized in F1 hybrid crop development. Particleacceleration technology, in which DNA is blasted into plant tissue in order to produce transgenic plant cells, was invented by the horticulturist John Sanford in 1987. Few scientific fields have captured the imagination as has horticulture, perhaps because of its centrality to the development of human culture. Biblical and other religious texts are filled with horticultural metaphors, such as the placement of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden near the Tree of Knowledge, the olive branch as a symbol for peace, and Noah s cultivation of a vineyard as his first act after the flood. We speak of a renaissance in events as a flowering and the end of innocence as a deflowering. The education of our youth involves, appropriately, a garden of children, or kindergarten. We cultivate relationships and speak of our hard work bearing fruit, certain people as late bloomers, or others as wall flowers, or worse, gone-to-seed. Moving to a different location marks us as transplants, but staying put means we are putting down roots. Many of our best thinkers have communicated complex concepts with such horticultural metaphors. Charles Darwin used the branching tree in describing the process of evolution in nature. In his vision, the branches represent phylogenetic patterns of lineage, and the dropped branches and twigs represent extinction. This tree metaphor for what Darwin called descent with modification has completely permeated biological science and popular culture. Horticulture and its practices are woven into our consciousness and have become part of the fabric of our language and thought. Nineteenth Century Horticulture The horticultural information and lore that was available in the U.S. at the beginning of the 20th century was prodigious, although its application seems primitive by today s standards. Practically all
The Origins of Horticultural Technology and Science
Acta Horticulturae, 2007
Horticulture is an ancient pursuit. Beginning some 10,000 years ago, our brilliant forebears discovered the horticultural craft secrets that are the basis of our profession. They initiated a revolution that changed forever the destiny of humans from scavenging, collecting, and hunting to agriculture. We all are the heirs and beneficiaries of this legacy from the past. Our roots derive from prehistoric gatherers, Sumerian, Egyptian, Chinese, and Korean farmers, Hellenic root diggers, medieval peasants, and gardeners everywhere who devised practical solutions to problems of plant growing for food, ornament, medicine, fiber, and shelter. The accumulated successes and improvements passed orally from parent to child, from artisan to apprentice, and became embedded in human consciousness via legend, craft secrets, and folk wisdom. It was stored in tales, almanacs, herbals, and histories and has become part of our common culture. More than practices and skills were involved as improved germplasm was selected and preserved via seed and graft from harvest to harvest and generation to generation. Practically all of our cultivated crops were selected and improved by prehistoric farmers. An array of technological approaches from primitive tools fashioned during the Bronze and Iron Ages through the development of the horticultural arts-irrigation, propagation, cultivation, pruning and training, drying, and fermentation-were devised to accommodate the needs and desires of humankind. The sum total of these technologies makes up the traditional lore of horticulture. It represents a monumental achievement of our forebears, unknown and unsung. Horticultural technology has been continuous over the millennia but in the last 100 years dramatic changes have occurred that have transformed horticulture from a craft to a science, and these changes will be displayed in the present Congress. However, all these advances are based solidly on the foundation of ancient techniques. HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE Horticulture: The First 10,000 Years Horticulture is truly an ancient pursuit. Some 10,000 years ago, our brilliant forebears discovered the horticultural craft secrets that are the basis of our profession. They initiated a revolution that changed forever the destiny of humans from scavenging, collection, and hunting to agriculture. We all are the heirs and beneficiaries of this legacy from the past. Our roots derive from prehistoric herders and collectors, Sumerian, Egyptian, Chinese, and Korean farmers, Hellenic root diggers, medieval peasants, and gardeners everywhere to obtain practical solutions to problems of plant growing and the use of these plant materials as food, medicine, fiber, and shelter. The accumulated successes and improvements passed orally from parent to child, from artisan to apprentice, and became embedded in human consciousness via legend, craft secrets, and folk wisdom. It was stored in tales, almanacs, herbals, and histories and has become part of our common culture. More than practices and skills were involved as improved germplasm was selected and preserved via seed and graft from harvest to harvest and generation to generation. Tremendous shifts in horticultural techniques, from primitive tools fashioned during the Bronze and Iron Ages through the development of the
In the "Hortus Universalis": science, technique, and delight in gardens
Introduction to the volume From Art to Science. Experiencing Nature in the European Garden 1500-1700. This essay deals with the fusion between art and science in Renaissance gardens and the crucial role played by the actors of the evolution of gardens - craftsmen, gardeners, botanists etc. - in the development of natural sciences.
Plants as Luxury Foods: “And they germinated very well”
A Cultural History of Plants vol. 3: In the Early Modern Era, 2022
The connectedness of humans to plants is the most fundamental of human relationships. Plants are, and historically have been, sources of food, shelter, bedding, tools, medicine, and, most importantly, the very air we breathe. Plants have inspired awe, a sense of wellbeing, religious fervor, and acquisitiveness alike. They have been collected, propagated, and mutated, as well as endangered or driven into extinction by human impacts such as global warming, deforestation, fire suppression, and over-grazing. A Cultural History of Plants traces the global dependence of human life and civilization on plants from antiquity to the twenty-first century and comprises contributions by experts and scholars in a wide range of fields, including anthropology, archaeology, art history, botany, classics, garden history, history, literature, and environmental studies more broadly. The series consists of six illustrated volumes, each devoted to an examination of plants as grounded in, and shaping, the cultural experiences of a particular historical period. Each of the six volumes, in turn, is structured in the same way, beginning with an introductory chapter that offers a sweeping view of the cultural history of plants in the period in question, followed by chapters on plants as staple foods, plants as luxury foods, trade and exploration, plant technology and science, plants and medicine, plants in (popular) culture, plants as natural ornaments, and the representation of plants. This cohesive structure offers readers the opportunity both to explore a meaningful cross-section of humans' uses of plants in a given period and to trace a particular use-as in medicine, for example-through time from volume to volume. The six volumes comprising A Cultural History of Plants are as follows:
ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. human–horticulture relationships; people–plant interaction; sociohorticulture; horticulture and behavior; benefits of plants; human well-being; psychologi-cal well-being; human health; stress reduction; interior air quality; children's gardens; horticul-tural therapy; research; nature; response to nature; perceptions of nature; plants; interior plants; foliage plants; ornamental plants SUMMARY. Throughout history, plants have been used to benefit people. In the United States, formal research to document the impacts of plants on people was not published until the 1970s, when papers from social and medical scientists began to appear. In the 1990s, sympo-sia, including the first on "The Role of Horticulture in Human Well-being and Social Devel-opment," brought people together from around the world to share and expand their knowl-edge in this emerging field. Symposium participants have included researchers in the social sciences and plant sciences, ...
Experimental Agriculture, 2003
The Royal Horticultural Society is to be congratulated on producing a book that fills a very necessary gap in the horticultural field. It is well laid out, with clear illustrations and a consistent format. Although most chapters had different authors, style and presentation are uniform throughout. The care and attention that went into the writing, editing and proofreading shows in the quality of the finished product. The book is aimed mainly at students, who should find it indispensable. The range of topics covered is very broad, encompassing all aspects of the science of horticulture from the botany, taxonomy, genetics and life-cycle of the plant, through every stage of husbandry to post-harvest storage. It includes soils, the environment and pest control. Each contributor puts across a wide range of sometimes-complicated scientific points in a very straightforward and digestible manner, linking them wherever possible to everyday gardening examples. Every chapter ends with a list of suggested further reading and there is a very comprehensive glossary. Advisers, commercial growers and amateur gardeners will also find this an enjoyable and interesting read as well as a useful reference book on the science behind the practice of horticulture.
Horticulture and the Roman Shaping of Nature
In the Roman world, horticulture (the art and practice of garden cultivation and management) is one aspect of the larger enterprise of farming and agriculture. Hortus denotes a kitchen garden near the house for growing vegetables; horti are large-scale pleasure grounds or parks, privately owned but sometimes open to public use. The literary and material sources from the second century b.c.e. to the second century c.e. in the regions of Latium and Campania adhere to and diverge from generic conventions, distort and exaggerate their subject, and provide social commentary on the purposes and meanings of gardens. After surveying the sources, the second section of this article reviews scholarship on gardens: archaeological studies that ask what gardens are, and cultural studies that ask what gardens mean. The conclusion suggests two future directions: reception studies and environmental sustainability.
A Cultural History of Plants, vol. 3: In the Early Modern Era. Introduction
A Cultural History of Plants vol. 3: In the Early Modern Era. Editors: Andrew Dalby, Annette Giesecke, 2022
The connectedness of humans to plants is the most fundamental of human relationships. Plants are, and historically have been, sources of food, shelter, bedding, tools, medicine, and, most importantly, the very air we breathe. Plants have inspired awe, a sense of wellbeing, religious fervor, and acquisitiveness alike. They have been collected, propagated, and mutated, as well as endangered or driven into extinction by human impacts such as global warming, deforestation, fire suppression, and over-grazing. A Cultural History of Plants traces the global dependence of human life and civilization on plants from antiquity to the twenty-first century and comprises contributions by experts and scholars in a wide range of fields, including anthropology, archaeology, art history, botany, classics, garden history, history, literature, and environmental studies more broadly. The series consists of six illustrated volumes, each devoted to an examination of plants as grounded in, and shaping, the cultural experiences of a particular historical period. Each of the six volumes, in turn, is structured in the same way, beginning with an introductory chapter that offers a sweeping view of the cultural history of plants in the period in question, followed by chapters on plants as staple foods, plants as luxury foods, trade and exploration, plant technology and science, plants and medicine, plants in (popular) culture, plants as natural ornaments, and the representation of plants. This cohesive structure offers readers the opportunity both to explore a meaningful cross-section of humans' uses of plants in a given period and to trace a particular use-as in medicine, for example-through time from volume to volume. The six volumes comprising A Cultural History of Plants are as follows: