136 Bulletin 142. 



The first careful experiments by an entomologist with the poison spray 

 were made in Michigan in 1880 by Cook, who had learned through Mr. 

 Woodward of its successful use in western New York. Cook sprayed twice 

 with London purple and reported the following results in December of the 

 same year: " The trees were loaded with fruit, but careful examination, 

 made August 19, discovered not a single injured apple. Other apple 

 trees, only a few rods distant, which were not treated with the poisonous 

 liquid, are bearing fruit one-fourth to one-half of which is 'wormy.'" 

 Notices of the successful use of the poison spray appeared in most of the 

 leading agricultural papers, yet comparatively few adopted the method for J 

 the destruction of the codling-moth during the next few years. Entomolo- 

 gists were somewhat afraid to recommend it, and orchardists seemed to 

 hesitate in applying poison for this pest, although it was quite freely used 

 for canker-worms. A very few of the most progressive men adopted the 

 method, and with apparently successful results. 



In 1885 and 1886 Forbes and Goff made careful and extensive 

 experiments with poison sprays, and the results indicated that at least 

 70 per cent, of the loss commonly suffered by the fruit- grower from 

 the ravages of the codling-moth could be prevented by thoroughly 

 applying the Paris green once or twice in the spring. Similar results 

 were obtained in California by Wickson in 1887. After the establish- 

 ment of the State Experiment Stations in 1888, a new impetus was 

 given to the adoption of the arsenical sprays, for nearly every station, 

 sooner or later, reported the results of careful and successful spraying 

 experiments against the codling-moth. Not only has the practicability 

 and effectiveness of the poison spray been demonstrated during the 

 past ten years by the most carefully conducted experiments at nearly 

 every experiment station in the United States, but the thousands of 

 practical fruit-growers who have thoroughly tried it are unanimous in 

 their testimony that from 50 to even 90 per cent., in some cases, of the 

 fruit that would otherwise be ruined by the insect can be saved at a 

 comparatively slight expense. To ensure success it is necessary to 



used white arsenic iind Paris green for canker-worms in h)wa as early as 

 1875, but we can find nu indications in the contemporaneous horticultural 

 literature that Mr. Dixon realized he had at the same time checked the 

 codling-moth until 18S0 (Trans. Iowa Hort. Soc.)or after Mr. Woodward had 

 reported his success, and it had ))een confirmed ])y the careful experiments 

 of Cook in Michigan. It thus seems that to Mr. Haynes and Mr. Woodward 

 belong the credit of this pioneer work, in the discovery of what has proved 

 to be the most successful method of combating the pest yet devised. 



