Page:Maury's New Elements of Geography, 1907.djvu/26

22 plant, will not grow of themselves. People must plow the ground for them, plant the seed, reap the grain when it is ripe, cut the flax, and pick the cotton.

Raising corn, or wheat, or other plants for food or clothing is called agriculture or farming.



Farmers use plows to turn up the soil, and machines to cut their wheat. We all use knives and scissors, needles and pins, and other such things.

People who make the things that other people use are said to manufacture.

But of course the man who makes plows must have iron and wood of which to make them; the man who builds wooden houses must have wood. Where shall they get the iron and the wood?

Iron is a mineral. It is dug from the earth. Some one must dig it up and make it fit for the plow-maker to use. The occupation of digging minerals out of the earth is called mining.



When a boy wants some marbles, he goes to a store and buys them. When a farmer wants a plow, he goes to a store and buys it. If in one country the people have not enough wheat, they buy some from a country where the people have more than enough. If in one country more cotton grows than the people want, they send it to other countries where cotton does not grow. The business of exchanging goods is called commerce.