In Linux Fedora Core 1, "crond" is started from the script "/etc/rc.d/init.d/crond". The manual `man cron` says that cron searches "/var/spool/cron" for crontab files which are named after accounts in "/etc/passwd"; crontabs found are loaded into memory. Cron also searches for "/etc/crontab" and the files in the "/etc/cron.d/" directory.
The "/etc/crontab" file contains the following.
SHELL=/bin/bash PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin MAILTO=root HOME=/ # run-parts 01 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.hourly 02 4 * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.daily 22 4 * * 0 root run-parts /etc/cron.weekly