Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-01-17
Sugar Coating The
Scientific Pill
NJ rrdersr D. HAswsn

may be agriculture, but 1 reckon III
stick to farming" remarked one farmer
on looking NJ = neat little Government
monograph on the hangers ~ dry rot,
profusaly illustrated with statistical
| tables.
This happened como time ago, when
/ the drynona of an agriculture bulletin
waa proverhisi. eeience conscisn tlousiy
| poured the esnence Of It's best agriculf-
ural research into faulflessiy technical
bulletins and forwarded them 10 the
farmer. And the farmer would glance At
| thd unsdorned covers and lift his eye
brows as 10 say. "Humph. what's science
got 70 do with hoeine pofatses7
Up To q few years ago, fhis was the
pathetic situation which prevailed, Then
the government waKed up 20 the fact
that 1t had 10 make agricultural science
pop8iar or isa work would GO for
nothing And no sooner had this CON
yiction been officially established than
The farmers bulletin began % change,
untIi now II is certainly a thing Of
beauty. and 10 anybody who csn profit
By its contents, II ought 90 be Joy
forever. Hrientifln facts are reduced 60
words of one syllable. Latin terms are
practically extinct. Pictures make the
proposition Enthusiastically clear. And
,fse whole is enclosed IN an attfactiyeiy
decorated cover.
IN other words. science is getting off
its pedestal. And the farmer ~ meeting
u half way by giving up Some ~ the
prefudices bedueathed u him by hia
fethere
This is an important thing for the
country. The Department If Agricuit-
IRE IL not like any other Government
A.
whether the people know the detailed
results Of tho work Of the war depart
ment or ~ the Patent Office But the
work Of the Department Of Agriculture
is valuable only in 80 fer as the results
are known 20 the people and put into
practice.
We have referred 70 the farmer par
tieulafly az the object Of this agricuit-
ural research but the Department n
Agriculture serves not only the farmer,
but anybody who wants 20 know about
ezterminating moths or ante, or how
70 can fruit. or to arrange a Kitchen.
plan q flower garden, er raise q canary
or make his diet balance. lr any If the
hundred other home questions that
people from Eew Yorx - San Fran
eieco bother over
How Bulletins Are Made.
Putting the results n 2 probi--n
solved In a laboratory with scientific
methods and apparatus into a readable
bulletin containing practical iuforrria-
tton is ore ~ the most difficult phases
of the departments work The sci
enlist who conducted the research
usually writes the bulletin. one II tho
artists ~ the bureau makes Hlustra
items. Then the manuscript goes ~ the
Division If Publication and the pic
lures GO 90 tho Division uf Illustrations
fot any editing that may be necessary
A. the - me time q cover has 20 be
designed The decorative cover is ono
~ the newest features of the farmers
bulletin. and ore which is proving
valuable rs means u awakening in
ters~t. The artists ~ the Division ~
Illustrations ere Masking zooa u-n ~
both Psychology and advertising
methods Thev figure that n you pick
up leaflet marked Comb b-honey
Production and note that there is q lot
IF printed Information on IN. cover
ard nothing aise. ten 70 one you put
down the publication without ever look-
ing inside. Pick up the same ieaHer
with tha same title. hut instead of the
zuperfious explanatory remarks. PIC
ffIre Of a hive with bees s~arrr1fTg. and
above that picture q honey-oouab ready
for the table@so realistically drawn
that IL makes you hungary, and. ten
10 one, even IL you are dwailer in a
flat you will open the buiiesin 20 hnd
out whether you could start a bee farm
on the FIRE escape.
This IS ordinary advertising appeal
But there are other problems ot cover
designing more or less peculiar 70 he
farmers bulletin. For instance. artists
Of the department fgurs that the
farmer il more readily convinced by
by a photograph than by q drawing.
so photography IS largely used in put
ting bee hives and other objects on bui-
ietin covers.
Hut tho wary farmer vino accepts
.unauesrioningly the photograph Of a
fat. sleek herd Of cows. and nnistrusts
a drawing Of the same herd. does not
always reckon on the possibilities of
the camera and paint brush. Not that
the Government artists try 20 paint
the lily or add an extra inch u girth
20 picture If a prize hog. Not at
the artist could tel where photography
leaves off and drawing begins.
Realism Necessary.
see the cover of this hog ouIletin.
explained one Of the artists This
bulletin deals with raising hogs IN the
south. and the photograph submitted
for the cover showed a man feeding
corn to the pigs. We were fixing il for
use when luckily some one called our
attention to the fact that they don't
feed corn % hogs down south. II was
a mistake that would never have
been noticed--except BY the people
who would want the bulletin. OF
course. we cut the man OF the pic
ture, and left just the hogs.
This sheep bulletin cover, too, had
to be patched up. In the foreground,
you see. is a fine picture of a man
shearing the flock. Back of Il. original
ly, there WAS a beautiful colonial
mansion. Il made an artistic photo
graph. but the attention was dis
tracted. You would Keep looking away
from the sheep TO the house-it was
too attractive. So we cut off the house
thinning the picture az the edge and
patching ca the thinned edge of an
other photograph Of some trees. The
tree line was low and nonotonous. so
we built it up with brush work, added
a few clouds, retouched the whole
picture, and the sheep scene was an
artistic unit