212 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



evidently paid to the matter. In reviewing publications we are not 

 infrequently misled or in doubt as to some important points, owing 

 to the way in which the matter is presented. The data should be care- 

 fully computed and compared, and summaries of the more important 

 results given in the clearest manner. A table is a difficult thing for 

 many people to understand, but the difficulties are greatly enhanced 

 if the table is improperly constructed. 



There is often a feeling that the publications must be the complete 

 record of the station's work, and hence publications are loaded down 

 unduly with data which adds to the expense of publication and are of 

 interest to only an occasional reader. Ultimately the station's publi- 

 cations should give the permanent record of their work, as far as the 

 important results and application are concerned; but much, if not 

 most, of the data should be retained in the station's unprinted records. 



The question may well be asked whether, considering its real pur- 

 pose, a bulletin should be published for general distribution until it 

 has a definite message to carry. Bulletins which merely record data 

 are of very doubtful value to the general public, and hence their pub- 

 lication in large editions is an unnecessaiy expense. We still have 

 meteorological bulletins, although not as many as formerly, which give 

 only a record of the weather conditions, with no possible means of 

 comparing them with the crop conditions of the season, and no attempt 

 to trace any relationship. We likewise have soil temperatures reported 

 without reference to anything else, so that they can be of very little 

 value to anyone except the writer, who presumably has other obser- 

 vations related to them. We have descriptions of flora, though fewer 

 than formerly, which stop just short of the vital point to agriculture; 

 and we have weed studies which give the botanical relationships, dis- 

 tribution, and habits of the plant, but only an imperfect method of 

 eradication or subjection, if indeed an attempt is made in that direction. 



In the preparation of matter for popular distribution the point of 

 view of the reader should be kept constantly in mind. In a weed bul- 

 letin, for example, unless it be merely a preliminary warning, the vital 

 thing to the farmer is a method for eradication, and he has a right to. 

 expect when he picks up a bulletin that this has been studied in a thor- 

 ough manner, and will be presented to him along with the more tech- 

 nical part in a clear, straightforward wa} 7 . To nearly eradicate a weed 

 is only to reduce its quantity, and the partial remedy will be only tem- 

 porary. Furthermore, the farmer is encouraged to believe a half way 

 method will do. If the plant reproduces by rootstocks, the scattering 

 joints, if allowed to remain, will rapidly produce more rootstocks and 

 seeds and the difficulty will continue, often in more serious form. 



Instead of being content with a halfway method the author should 

 endeavor to work out and present a thorough method of eradicating 



