The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-01-13
Frederic Haslkiin's Letter


ting bee hives and other objects a,
bulletin covers. ~
But the wary farmer who A..
cepts unquestionably the uhotn-
graph Of . fat, sleek herd OF cov.
and mistrusts q drawing Of the,
same herd, does not always reckon
on the possibilities Of the Gamer.
and paint brush. Not that the sov.
eminent artists try to paint the lilv
or add an extra inch of girth TO !
picture Of prize hog. But in soma
OF the covers only the artist could
tell where photography leavee s.
and drawing begins.
Realism Necessary. III
"See the cover of this hog bulle.
tin." explained one OF the artists
This bulletin deals with raising
hogs in the south, and the photo.
graph submitted for the cover
showed a man feeding corn to the
pigs. We were fixing it for use
when luckily some one called
our attention to the significant fact
that they don't feed corn to hors
down south. 1t was a mistake that
would never have been noticed-ex.
cept by the people who want the
bulletin. OF course, we cut the
man off the picture and feft iust
the hogs.
This sheep bulletin cover. too,
had to be patched up. In the fore
ground, you see, is a fine picture
Of a man shearing the flock. Back
OF 1t, originally, there was a beau
tiful colonial mansion. 1t made an
artistic photograph, but the atten-s
ton was distracted. Yon would
keep looking away from the sheen +.
to the house-it was too attractive.
So we cut OF the house, thinning
the picture at the edge and patch
ing on the thinned edge of another
photograph OF some trees. The
tree line was low and monotonous.
SO We built it up with brush work,
added q few clouds, retouched the
whole picture, and the sheep scene /,
was an artistic unit" 81.
Something OF this sort has to be
done with almost every cover. It
isn't a simple proposition Of get
ting a hurried snapshot Of a box
of Strawberries or a brood Of
chickens and drawing a margin !
around it to indicate the cover
edge. On the contrary, every bull
letin represents work-the finest
detail work with careful Judgment
back Of every stroke.
Limited funds sometimes add to
the difficulty Of turning out the ir-
resfstibly attractive bulletin. Not
60 long ago some Of the depart
ment employees thought it would be
q good idea to use colored pict-
ures on bulletin covers and for
illustrations where color is q guide.
- In testing the quality OF certain
meats or in knowing when a plant
is diseased. Color In such in
stances is undoubtedly helpful to
the reader, but congress refused to
see that it would be worth the ex-
ira dollars it would add to the gov
eminent printing bill, so the farm
ers' bulletins continue to appear
mainly in black and white.
The Results.
Colored pictures would have rails
ed the farmers bulletin to the final
stage Of perfection and popularity.
But lacking that, no one can deny
that the bulletins emanating from
the department OF agriculture are
gems of art and samples of popu-
lar literature compared with the
farmers bulletin of the model OF
1910. .
Thirteen million Of these bulle-
tins were distributed by the depart
ment last year. This is Just about
the average number sent out In the
last seven years, except in 1918.
when 100000 were distributed
because Of food and economy cam
paigns. Why, then. the assertion
that the farmers bulletin is be-
coming more popular? Because in
this case figures don't mean much.
Since the department began to
print bulletins it has been sending
them out to congressman for their
constituents, to agricultural e1per-
iment stations, and to people who
wrote for them. The early bulle-
tins went out, exuding science at
every line, but how much good
they did was doubtful. Now, con-
gress regularly cuts down on print
ing, the government printing office
is rushed with work, and the result
is at best just the usual number OF
bulletins. But the real test is this:
Very many more farmers and
are reading the bulle-
tins and expressing their apprecfa-
ton of them. The facts that they
wouldn't swallow when served to
them raw and undiluted, they now
accept, and, like Oliver. ask for
more.