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Re: Different Vegetables found in a period garden.
What he said. Sometimes it's a practical matter. Why should I type out 50,000 words on vegetables in the 19th century--what I'd estimate it would take to cover the subject in a detailed overview--if
1) it duplicates what you already know or
2) is irrelevant because you want California and I focussed on the east, or vice versa, for example, or
3) you don't really care and wouldn't bother to read it.
I think maybe you don't realize what level of detailed research various people have done on topics, and the potential depth of what you're asking. And the problem is if someone just tosses off a quick answer--corn, peas and tomatoes, for example--it might be so vague as to be useless. If they go into a little more detail--Stowell's Evergreen corn, Blue Prussian peas and Large Red tomatoes, for example--it might get misinterpreted and the person would wind up being quoted as an authority for the inaccurate fact that "People only grew one kind of corn in the period, Stowell's Evergreen."
So there's no way to sense how much detail you want, or what kind of answer, or how much explanation there will need to be to put the answer in context. A vague basic question leads more toward frustration rather than help, because the potential length of the answer could range in the thousands of words and hours of invested time.
Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com
Originally posted by JSchnak950
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1) it duplicates what you already know or
2) is irrelevant because you want California and I focussed on the east, or vice versa, for example, or
3) you don't really care and wouldn't bother to read it.
I think maybe you don't realize what level of detailed research various people have done on topics, and the potential depth of what you're asking. And the problem is if someone just tosses off a quick answer--corn, peas and tomatoes, for example--it might be so vague as to be useless. If they go into a little more detail--Stowell's Evergreen corn, Blue Prussian peas and Large Red tomatoes, for example--it might get misinterpreted and the person would wind up being quoted as an authority for the inaccurate fact that "People only grew one kind of corn in the period, Stowell's Evergreen."
So there's no way to sense how much detail you want, or what kind of answer, or how much explanation there will need to be to put the answer in context. A vague basic question leads more toward frustration rather than help, because the potential length of the answer could range in the thousands of words and hours of invested time.
Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com
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