222 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



I had an article in the paper one day and I said that I did not 

 expect to see very much Hessian fly. Some others said that the 

 fields were full of them. I made an examination in several fields 

 and I did not find any Hessian flies. I found several bugs, how- 

 ever, but they were not Hessian flies. One man called me in as 

 I was going past his field, described his trouble, and I thought 

 possibly he had the fly in his wheat, but the examination showed 

 that it was not the Hessian fly at all but leaf hoppers. When we 

 find these in wheat we perhaps cannot do very much with them 

 unless the ground is dry enough to get a harrow and run over it. 

 That is one of the great difficulties with alfalfa. Sometimes the 

 alfalfa is attacked by leaf hoppers; the leaves begin to dry and 

 we believe it to be attacked by disease. Sometimes the alfalfa 

 is attacked by a leaf disease, but it is usually not a leaf disease 

 but the leaf hopper that is making the trouble. We find the 

 leaf hopper does not like to have his back scratched with a 

 harrow. We get into the alfalfa with a harrow and disturb it 

 in some way and he gets away from our field and goes over to 

 our neighbors, not asking permission. 



In making life in the country worth while, in taking up 

 county work, a man will get along in proportion to his infor- 

 mation, to his sympathy with the work, to his integrity, purpose 

 and ability to get close to the man he is trying to serve. If he 

 can do that he will make good; if he cannot, the chances are 

 somewhat, at least, against him. 



Another matter that we are trying to take up is in benefit- 

 ing the schools. Our boys and girls need a little better educa- 

 tion today to cope with the world's condition than they did a 

 few years ago. The country school has not kept pace with the 

 city school, and as a result, when the country boy is through 

 with the little country school we must send him to town, and 

 when he once goes to town — maybe I had better repeat a little 

 story that I heard today; it will take but a moment. 



The man said, "We have only one college graduate living 

 in our community. It is true that we have sent our boys and 

 girls away to the colleges and to the universities, but none of 

 them have ever come back to help us." 



I call that a pathetic story. These young people going 

 away to learn of the world and its ways, that they might bring 

 the information that they get in these schools back to the home, 

 but our system of education in the country has made it so that 

 they have not returned to help us. 



