REPORTS OF DISTRICT AND LOCAL SOCIETIES. 519 



The programme of topics of the year was read, calendars distributed, and 

 much interest was shown by the gathering. 



Mr. Garfield was asked to urge upon the society the importance of the 

 bill introduced in the legislature by Senator Porter, being a bill to pro- 

 tect bees from poison through the spraying or otherwise treating of fruit 

 or other trees, shrubs, vines, or plants, with London purple, Paris green, 

 white arsenic, or other virulent poisons, or to scatter upon such trees any 

 of the named poisons, while such trees, vines, or shrubs are in blossom, or 

 while bees on such trees, vines, or shrubs are in quest of nectar or pollen. 



The reading of the bill was well received, and Vice-President Pearce 

 made an earnest plea for its support. It should, he said, meet with the 

 unanimous support of this society. Other members spoke in favor of the 

 bill, and Asa W. Slayton would hold up both hands for its adoption. 

 Mr. Bailey said it was not severe enough. Albert Jackson of Lowell 

 thought the fine in the first offense should not be more than $5 nor less 

 than $1, and in the second not more than $50 or less than $25. He 

 offered this as an amendment, but it was lost. All sides of the bill were 

 gone over, and some said we did not need it at all; but the prevailing 

 opinion was in favor of the bill. Mr. Garfield remarked: "It is framed 

 for those who are ignorant of the harm they might do. The idea was to 

 properly bring before the notice of every one when it was the right time 

 to spray," and rather than see the bill become a law he favored a measure 

 of first trying what money could do in disseminating a general knowledge 

 of spraying throughout the state. A vote on the bill resulted as follows: 

 yeas 34, nays 32. 



Spraying trees occupied the remainder of the session. Paris green for 

 apples, cold water for the plum, copper solution for grapes. Professor 

 Cook advised planting here and there a plum tree in a peach orchard. 

 Here the curculio would gather and be more easily destroyed. 



The fourth Tuesday in April was a delightful day — cool and sunny -and 

 a large gathering greeted Mr. Smith and Mrs. Smith and shared in the hos- 

 pitalities extended by these progressive florists and fruitgrowers. 



At 11 o'clock, President Garfield called the meeting to order, and, 

 after the reading the minutes of the previous meeting, entertained the com- 

 pany with several items of interest he has a habit of collecting for every 

 meeting. 



After the usual recess for refreshments, and a stroll through the green- 

 houses, the members arranged themselves for the afternoon session, but so 

 large was the crowd, that every chair in the house was occupied, besides 

 those procured for the occasion, and when the secretary was called 

 upon to read his paper, "Possibilities of horticulture under glass," he was 

 horrified to see the very stairs black with people and numerous heads peer- 

 ing over the banisters from the landing above. The effect of light or 

 darkness upon plants was thoroughly discussed. , 



S. S. Bailey was present with squashes in a perfect state of preservation, 

 and attributed the cause to a dry, warm room for a storehouse. Attention 

 was called to the great lawn fertilizer, nitrate of soda. Applied early, it 

 was one of the cheapest and best fertilizers; but it does not contain potash 

 or phosphoric acid, and its continual use would retard plants in coming to 

 maturity. 



Mr. Wilde announced that he had successfully killed the curculio with 

 corrosive sublimate. 



