REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST II9 



Legislation Against Arsenical Spraying. 



Prof. Cook desires that " everyone of the United States should pass a 

 law making it a misdemeanor to spray fruit trees while in blossom." I 

 do not know that this, although urged in some of the States, has been 

 done in any. Such a law was passed by the Ontario legislature, in April^ 

 1890. It provides: 



Sec. I. No person in spraying or sprinkling fruit trees during the 

 period within which such trees are in full bloom shall use or cause to be 

 used any mixture containing Paris green or any other poisonous sub- 

 stance injurious to bees. 



§ 2. Any person contravening the provisions of this Act, shall on sum- 

 mary conviction thereof before a justice of the peace, be subject to a 

 penalty of not less than $i.oo or more than $5.00, with or without costs 

 of prosecution, * » # # # ^ 



That the above law is calculated to protect the interests of both the 

 fruit grower and honey producer, is the opinion of Prof. J. H. Panton, of 

 the Ontario Agricultural College, as given in Bulletin LXXXI, of the 

 college, issued in November, 1892. He remarks: 



"Although there has been no analysis of the bodies of the dead bees for 

 the purpose of ascertaining the presence of arsenic, still the death of the 

 bees is so intimately associated with spraying that there seems but little 

 reason to believe otherwise than that the bees have been poisoned by 

 Paris green used in spraying. However, this will likely soon be settled 

 by analysis of the bodies of bees suspected to have been poisoned, and I 

 have no doubt arsenic will be detected." 



May Blossoms be Blighted by Arsenical Spraying ? 



There is another important question connected with the arsenical 

 spraying of blossoms, viz., this: May not the arsenic blight the blossom 

 and prevent fruit development ? "The portion of the pistil," says Prof. 

 Panton, " upon which the pollen falls is exceedingly tender and sensitive, 

 so much so that the application of such substances as Paris green injures 

 it to so great an extent that the process of fertilization is affected and 

 the development of fruit checked," No experiments known to me have 

 been made upon the effect of arsenical spraying on fruit blossoms. That 

 its effect would be to destroy the blossoms is quite probable. Thus, 

 Mr. James Fletcher has suggested the spraying of the blossoms of pear 

 trees infested with the Pear Midge [Diplosis pyrivora Riley) as a remedy 

 for annual attacks of the insect by depriving it of the food (within the 

 young fruit) needed for its development. 



