The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-01-13

Woo01n&tOus u. C.s Jun. LIZ
This may BE- agriculture. but I
reckon III stick to farming" ~
marked one farmer ON looking ct
. neat little government mono
graph on the dangers Of dry rot,
profusely illustrated with Stats
tical tables.
This happened some time ago.
whom the dryness Of IN agriculture
bulletin was proverbial. Science
conscientiously poured the essence
Of its best agricultural research
into faultlessly technical bulletins
Snd forwarded them to the farmer.
And the farmer would glance at
the unadorned covers and lift his
eyebrows Is to say, 'Humph, what's
science got to do with h0eing pc.
tatoesr
Up to = few years ago. this was
the pathetic situation which pre-
vailed. Then the government walked
up to the fact that it had to make
agricultural science popular or it,
work would 60 for nothing. And
no sooner had this conviction been
officially established than the farm
ers' bulletins began to change, I'M
til now it Is certainly . thing Of
beauty, and to anybody who can
profit BY it, contents, it ought to
be . Joy forever. Scientific facts
are reduced to words Of one sylla-
BILE. Latin terms are practically
extinct. Pictures make the prop
csition unmistakably clear. And
the whole Is enclosed in an at
tractively decorated cover.
In other words, science Is get
ting OF its pedestal. And the farm
er is meeting it half way by giving
mp some OF the prejudices beQueath-
ed to him by his fstherA
This is an important thing for
the country. The department Of
agriculture is not like any other
government office. 1t does not mat
ter very much whether the people
know the detailed results Of the
work Of the war department or OF
the patent Office. But the work Of
the department Of agriculture Ia
valuable only in SO far as the re-
suits are known to the people and
put into practice.
We have referred to the farmer
particularly - the object OF this
agricultural research, but the de-
partment Of agriculture serves
not only the farmer, but anybody
who wants to know about exter-
minating moths or ants. or how to
can fruit, or to arrange . kitchen,
plan . flower garden, or raise q
canary, or make his diet balance.
or any Of the hundred other home
questions that people from New
York to San Francisco bother over.
How Bulletins Are Made.
Putting the results Of . prob
lem solved in . laboratory with
scientific methods and apparatus
into q readable bulletin containing
practical information is one Of the
most difficult phases Of the depart
ment's work. The scientist who
conducted the research usually
writes the bulletin. One Of the
artists Of the bureau makes illus
trations. Then the manuscript
goes to the division Of publications
and the pictures 60 to the division
of illustrations, for any editing that
may be necessary.
At the same time . cover has to
be designed. The decorative cover
is one Of the newest features Of
the farmers bulletin. and one
which is proving valuable q .
means Of awakening interest. The
artists Of the division Of fllustra-
tons are making good use Of both
psychology and advertising meth
DDS. They figure that II You pick
up . leaflet marked Comb Honey
Production" and note that there is
q lot of printed information on the
cover and nothing else, ten to one
you put down the publication with
out ever looking inside. Pick up
the same leafiet with the same title,
but instead Of the super1uous ex-
planatory remarks, q picture Of a
hive with bees swarming, and above
that q picture Of a honeycomb
ready for the table-so realistically
drawn that it makes you hungry,
and ten to one. even II you are a
dweller in q fat you will open tie
bulletin to find out whether you
could start Z bee farm on the fire
escape.
This is ordinary advertising ap-
peal. But there are other prob
lens Of cover designing more or
less peculiar to the farmers bull
letin. For instance, artists of the
figure that the farmer
is more readily convinced by a
photograph than by q drawing. So
is largely used In put