As in the topic – why you can put them in .htaccess.
I always thought that it should be in php.ini not in .htaccess.
.htaccess
php_value max_execution_time 240
php_value max_input_time 111
php.ini
max_execution_time 240
max_input_time 111
Why it can be like that?
People on shared web hosts often won’t have access to the php.ini file, so it’s convenient to be able to override certain PHP settings in the .htaccess file (if you really need to).