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Re: [GWL]: A New Rant

The one I have a hard time with is "weeds define your soil." I know that's 
iconoclastic, and every text I pick up says "if weed x grows, then the soil 
is undisturbed/wet/disturbed/has hardpan." Yet my experience is quite 
different.  I don't believe the "weeds define the soil" line, and I don't 
think horticulturists or soil scientists would believe me or my 
experience.  Margaret Lauterbach

>OK, here I go, playing devil's advocate once again.
>
>How, as a reporter, do you identify myths and debunk them? There are two 
>immediate problems as I see it.
>
>1. Sometimes real knowledge changes. That is, all of the best 
>evidence---scientific and anecdotal---indicates that X is the case. This 
>goes on for years. Then further research and experimentation reveals that 
>Y is actually the case, and X is false. Are you perpetrating a "myth" when 
>you report X? Or has the new data just not caught up? And what if that new 
>data is, itself, controversial? See, for instance, the raving arguments 
>over the scientific name for tomatoes.
>
>2. As you research a question, what happens if everything you uncover 
>indicates X. A good case in point: the use of gysum to help break up clay. 
>Virtually every reference I've seen on this says to use gypsum. Even saw 
>one scientific break down as to why gypsum works for this purpose, 
>complete with chemical analysis. Now you and others are saying this is a 
>myth. Worse, you're saying that if I repeat it in a column or article that 
>I'm a sloppy garden writer who doesn't know what he's talking about. Seems 
>a little harsh to me.
>
>Among other things, I'm a herbalist, and have seen far too many instances 
>where some writer has debunked the "myth" of herbal remedies. Now 
>herbalism is becoming mainstream, and suddenly the same writers are 
>talking about how effective these remedies can be. In each case, they got 
>their information by intervieing medical "experts." So, does this make 
>them sloppy writers?
>
>Is a puzzlement!
>
>
>Brook
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