148 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 2 



planting trees in a strongly alkaline soil, even where the ground water 

 is not ordinarily close enough to be considered dangerous, for if the 

 rising alkali is capable of freeing the arsenic, it would not be very 

 long before the soil w^ould be so impregnated that it would not only 

 kill the trees but render the ground unlit for any other crop. 



The entire matter is one that calls for careful and exhaustive in- 

 vestigation and for cautious and guarded statements of any kind until 

 the results of these investigations . are known. Hasty and ill-advised 

 statements with reference to the purity of arsenicals have already done 

 a great injury to the fruit industry in the intermountain region. 



Conclusions 



1. That the conditions described by Doctor Headden and attributed 

 to the effects of arsenical spraying occur over widely distributed areas 

 and have killed thousands of trees on which no arsenic has ever been 

 used, and that therefore arsenical poisoning cannot be the primary 

 cause of this trouble. 



2. That the only trees positively known to have died of arsenical 

 poisoning were the two to which a soluble arsenite was applied, a com- 

 pound which no one has ever used for spraying purposes. 



3. That the entire subject of arsenical poisoning is a matter for 

 careful and exhaustive investigation and that any statements preced- 

 ing that investigation should be of the most guarded nature. 



4. That there is a possible danger in the use of even slightly alkaline 

 waters in the application of spraying materials, and that there is a 

 probability of danger from excessive spraying on strongly alkaline 

 soils. 



5. That those who are using the driving spray or contemplate using 

 it may do so with the assurance that they are using the most effective 

 and at the same time the least dangerous method possible, — if there 

 should prove to be danger in arsenical spraying, — and that the best 

 and most productive orchards in the West are the ones that have been 

 the longest sprayed. 



The following paper was briefly summarized by the author: 



THE ALFALFA LEAF-WEEVIL 



By E. G. Titus, Logan, Utah 



For the past six j-ears the alfalfa-growing territory in the vicinity 

 of Salt Lake City, Utah, has been suffering from the attack of an 



