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Re: [GWL]: A New Rant

Some miscellaneous opinions, philosophy, and general
rambling.

My basic thinking is that we, as writers who portend
to provide authoritative information to our audience,
are obligated to at least occasionally research some
of our information or keep up with the "latest" from
the halls of academia.  To our readers, WE are the
experts.

I do not think that we are simply prostitutes whose
obligation is to provide what is popular at the time.

Indeed, as in the case of plant nomenclature,
authoritative info does change -- sometimes back to
"what it was".  So be it.  Yet we "keep up with the
latest" and change our presentations (sometimes back)
based on our best trust in the latest authority.

In the long run, research has lead us to a more and
more stable view of the art and science of
horticulture.  Not a more confusing one.  We must be
on that same path.  And it doesn't hurt to combine it
with some good old-fashioned common sense.

The horticulture industry is, as just about every
industry in America, based on money.  Money talks (I
just love some cliches).  There are lots of products
(e.g. soil amendments, gypsum, etc.) being sold that
make many people lots of money.  Research is often
overlooked or buried because of the money stream it
interrupts.

Was it I who used the word "sloppy"?  Forgive me if I
did.

Joe
--- BrookBarb@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 01/25/2002 8:55:21 AM Pacific
> Standard Time, 
> jeffball@starband.net writes:
> 
> 
> > But Joe's list had me add
> > to the list.
> > 
> > 
> 
> 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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=====
Joe Seals
Santa Maria, Calilfornia --
where the weather is always perfect
and my garden always has something blooming

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