HORTICULTURE AT THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR, IQ02. 363 



tention from every passer by. The other commercial exhibits were 

 from the Minnetonka Nursery Co. and C. P. Nichols, of Northfield, 

 occupying each a corner of the hall. 



We were fortunate in having with us during most of the week 

 three professors of horticulture ; from our own state, Prof. S. B. 

 Green; from North Dakota, Prof. C. B. Waldron; and from South 

 Dakota, Prof N. E. Hansen. Professors Hansen and Green acted 

 as judges of apples, assisted by others who were present. The list 

 of awards following tells the story of the display in full. 



On Thursday afternoon an assortment of garden vegetables was 

 put on exhibition, sent from Skaguay, Alaska, by express, just a 

 week before to a day. They came largely from the garden of A. H. 

 Brackett, an old member of the Minn. State Horticultural Society, 

 whose interest in the state of his birth seems not to have abated as 

 a result of some years residence in Alaska. The cut accompanying 

 shows the extent and nature of the exhibit. They attracted much at- 

 tention, and some suspected they were really grown nearer home, 

 but they came from Alaska as stated on the card pinned above it, 

 just the same. Through the courtesy of the Great Northern Ex- 

 press Co., the exhibit was brought through in the shortest pos- 

 sible time and without expense in transit. 



THE POSITION OF AN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGIST. 



PROF. F. L. WASHBURN. 



State Entomologist, St. Anthony Park. 



Not long ago a friend of mine (an economic entomologist) in 

 answer to my question, "What do you think is the most important 

 point in the education of an economic entomologist?" replied, "The 

 ability to put himself in the position of a farmer." It seems to me 

 that he hit the nail squarely on the head. And it is one of the most 

 important and one of the most difficult things in the work of an 

 entomologist to be able to look at questions regarding insects 

 which are devastating the crops or the orchard in the same light 

 that the farmer does. It is this very point which explains the hesi- 

 tancy of an agriculturist or a horticulturist in accepting the advice 

 of an economic entomologist. They say, and with some reason, 

 "Your advice is very good, but your knowledge has been attained 

 either in the laboratory or from books or from casual study in the 

 field. In giving advice you have nothing at stake in dollars and 

 cents." Perhaps the orchardist and the farmer carry this criticism 

 of an economic entomologist too far, because the entomologist of 



