Expert TT'ROM Rochester Junction the road runs through a level 

 Advice country famed for its productive farms, to Geneva. 



Free This is the seat of the New York State Agricultural Ex- 



periment Station, an institution founded to advance scientific 

 agriculture, from which anybody living in the State may 

 receive expert advice, free, upon any subject pertaining 

 to the farm. Here the Lehigh Valley forks; the mam line 

 follows the east shore of Seneca Lake, while one branch 

 runs along Cayuga Lake, the two lines meeting at Sayre, 

 Pa., just south of the New York-Pennsylvania boundary 

 line. It is at Geneva, also, that the Naples branch, which 

 penetrates the Canandaigua Lake district, joins the main line. 



Finger PHIS part of New York State is known as the Finger 

 Lake Lake Fruit Belt. Here the Indians, long before Gen- 



Fruit era ' Sullivan drove them away, planted the first peach 



Belt and apple orchards in America and laid the foundation 



for the vast vineyards and fruit orchards seen by the traveler 

 of today. In one year 20,000,000 pounds of grapes 

 were gathered in this district, while apples and peaches 

 are even more abundant. Then there are extensive nurseries, 

 where millions of young fruit and ornamental trees are 

 propagated every year. Shipments of such are made to 

 all parts of the country. 



O INGLE orchards of three hundred acres are not un- Profits 



common. The most delicate varieties of peaches, apri- That 

 cots and prunes are grown, being protected from injurious Astound 

 frosts by the great lake area. Net profits per acre realized 

 in the Finger Lake Belt are frequently astonishing. Fruit 

 growers in this vicinity average a net return of $200 per 

 acre on their apple orchards, while in good seasons the 

 return has been two or three times that amount. Peaches, 

 apricots and prunes have been known to return as - high 

 as $600 an acre. The Lehigh Valley Railroad provides 

 special fruit trains for this section during the harvest, making 

 it possible for the farmers to ship their products with the 

 minimum of delay to all parts of the world. Because of 

 its superior quality the fruit grown in this region is eagerly 

 sought by the markets. 



pOLLO'WING the fork of the road that passes west Gayuga 



of Cayuga Lake we reach Ithaca, where is the junction Lake 

 with the Auburn division. The Auburn and Ithaca branch 

 follows the east shore of Cayuga Lake, gathering the fruit, 

 alfalfa and other products from that fertile section. At 

 Ithaca, in connection with Cornell University, is conducted 

 one of the largest agricultural colleges in America. In 

 recent years it has taught thousands of young men. 



21 



