"MENTAL FERTILISERS."
NEWSPAPERS have been called by a variety of names, some of which have been complimentary. A Mr W. G. Henderson, of Albury, evolved a new figure of speech in referring, at a luncheon of the Melbourne Rotary Club recently, to newspapers as " mental fertilisers." He envisaged them as the psychological "bone and super," which cultivated the minds of the public and produced a richer crop of public thought. Newspapers, in justice to themselves, have a right to ask that the quality of the fertiliser shall not be judged always by the quality of the crop. While the prolific growth of a crop may be wholly attributable to the fertiliser, the nature of it is wholly due to the nature of the seed sown. Newspapers are seed-drills as well as fertilisers; but they seldom have the benefit of working in a virgin field. There are many other sowers of seed of vastly inferior quality who exploit a tooreceptive soil; and when good and bad seed are sown haphazardly upon the same fallow the harvest is bound to be mixed. There are inferior brands of intellectual superphosphate, it is true; but as a general rule it is a mistake to blame the fertiliser for an unsatisfactory crop.
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Bibliographic details
Waipa Post, Volume 42, Issue 3314, 25 June 1931, Page 4
Word Count
207"MENTAL FERTILISERS." Waipa Post, Volume 42, Issue 3314, 25 June 1931, Page 4
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