THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
241 
NURSERYMEN GROW SUGAR BEETS. 
The largest nurserymen in Onondaga county, N. Y., and at 
one time the largest in the state, are Smiths & Powell. They 
own a farm which is nearly three miles long, extending along 
the side of Onondaga lake. All kinds of trees are grown. 
There was a great demand for pear trees this season. The 
spring trade was excellent and there are a large number of in¬ 
quiries for stock for fall. Smiths & Powell raise every year 
about 300 acres of beets for sugar. They are shipped to 
Binghamton, as are the crops of a large number of other 
growers in the vicinity. E. A. Powell says that he finds the 
growing of sugar beets profitable and expects to see the time 
when they are more extensively grown than at present. Mr. 
Powell finds that the question of labor is an important one in 
this industry. It takes a great deal of labor and it must be 
had at the time it is needed. The difficulty lies in the fact 
that more is needed at some times than at others and farmers 
cannot find it profitable if they are not situated where they 
can get labor at any time and drop it when they are through 
with it.—'American Florist. 
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION. 
“The time has come,” says Professor L. H. Bailey, “for a 
definite, intensive movement in university extension. Every 
person in this country is a sovereign. Every boy expects to 
be president. Every man has a voice in affairs. In nearly all 
our states most of the people are farmers. In Delaware, every 
one in four lives on a farm; also in Illinois. In New York, one 
in every seven is on the farm. Every day and year farming is 
becoming more difficult. Competition increases and will ever 
increase. Agriculture to-day means many different trades— 
dairy business, flower growing, and fruit growing. 
“ At Cornell University a definite extension movement for 
the betterment of agriculture has now taken form. It has 
grown to larger proportions than any other movement of its 
kind. About one hundred thousand people are the number 
whom we are serving in many various ways—with whom in 
one way or another we have relations. The enterprise of uni¬ 
versity extension has been developed because of four under¬ 
lying principles: Fundamentally, the people were ready— 
they wanted to learn; certain teachers were ready—they wanted 
to teach; the persons into whose hands this work fell, were 
given complete autonomy; they were not restricted; the legis¬ 
lature gave money. 
“ A few days ago I spoke to about 1,100 people, in a state 
teachers’ association, on the subject of agricultural education. 
It is a most remarkable thing that a man should be asked to 
talk on agriculture before a state teachers’ convention. I 
do not know of any movement that so completely shows 
the tide of educational events as the way in which school 
teachers are taking up this subject. The probability is that a 
law will be passed in Illinois this winter, providing for the 
teaching of agriculture in the rural schools. In New York we 
have a law which specifies that certain funds shall be expended 
for the extension of agricultural knowledge. 
“ One way of reaching the people, in the Cornell movement, 
is by making experiments that are really schools. There is a 
farmers’ reading course. 
I he nature study idea is another part of the Cornell move¬ 
ment. We try to get hold of the children of the state. We 
are often asked to advise if children should go from the city 
to the farm. We reply that they should not go to the farm 
with the idea of getting rich. In the city one becomes part of 
machine—he may lose his individual identity. If you want an 
identity, if you want to have your own mind and opinions, go 
to the farm; but first learn how to live. The farmer does not 
always know how to live; he needs to have better farm sur¬ 
roundings and more sympathy with the things among which he 
lives. It seemed as if, first of all, we must get the children. 
Accordingly, as the child grows up we try to put before him 
something that will educate him toward the farm. So far, we 
have organized 50,000 children into junior naturalist clubs. 
We reorganize every year. 
“ Another movement now on hand is to organize the farmers’ 
wives in the state. We have now 2,000 organized, and I ex¬ 
pect some day to count them by the ten thousand. 
“We do not desire to force agriculture upon the schools, 
but to introduce it gradually as opportunity offers and as the 
time is ripe. Everything that elevates a man and gives him a 
closer hold on life, benefits him immensely, even though it 
does not teach him how to kill a potato bug or spray a tree. 
Every year a lot of young fellows come up to our institution 
from the farms. They are not sick of life. They do not think 
it is a failure. They are full of blood and vim, and have a 
hold on life that is contagious. Every year, as they come in, 
I feel myself getting younger.” 
SEVENTEEN-YEAR CICADA. 
Prof. W. G. Johnson says in American Agriculturist: 
Those who expect to plant orchards or trees of any kind this fall or 
next spring should be on their guard, especially in territories where 
the 17-year cicada or locust is due. A destructive brood of this insect 
will occur in ’02. They will be particularly noticeable in the eastern 
tier of counties in Illinois, in Sauk County, Wis., all of Indiana, the 
western half of Ohio, and in Southern Michigan; extending to the 
central portions of Kentucky, into Eastern Tennesee, Western North 
Carolina, and Northern Georgia; westerQ portions of Virginia, eastern 
counties of West Virginia, practically all of Maryland, Delaware and 
New Jersey, Eastern and Southern Pennsylvania; and a few scattered 
localities in Western New York, along the lake shore and in Rutland 
county, Vt. 
This is the largest of the 17-year broods of this insect It last 
appeared in 1885 and considerable damage w T as done to trees and shrubs 
in the territory mentioned. This insect will appear in May in most, 
destructive numbers. During that time they will deposit their egg 
in trees and shrubs, seriously injuring them. The insect cuts a deep 
slit in the twig in which it deposits its eggs. These eggs hatch in a 
short time and then emerging from them drop to the ground and remain 
below the surface for a period of 17 years. 
It is the cut in the twigs during the time the females are depositing 
their eggs that causes so much damage to trees; particularly young 
trees. In view of the fact that this pest occurs throughout such an 
important fruit belt, persons who expect to plant young orchards 
particularly on land recently cultivated, should take warning. 1'he 
chances are that trees planted this fall or next spring on recently cleared 
lands will be seriously injured, if not killed by this insect. The adults 
rarely if ever takes food of any kind and lives a short time only after 
the eggs are deposited. Due to the fact that the cicada is not especially 
choice of trees in which to deposit its eggs, fruit growers should be 
exceedingly cautious and use every means to keep these pests from 
young trees. Trees of special value liable to be injured in districts 
where the pests will occur in greatest numbers should be protected for 
a few weeks with various kinds of coverings. 
