May 1908, | USE OF ARSENIC IN HORTICULTURE. 346 
horticulture have begun to give rise to an important problem 
in other countries than our own. That this is so is indicated 
by such statements as the following in The Lancet (15th 
February 1908, p. 527) :— 
“ At a meeting of the Academy of Medicine, Paris, held on 
28th January, M. Cazeneuve called the attention of his 
audience to a situation which has become extremely alarming. 
Within the last two or three years enormous quantities of 
arsenic have been used in agricultural operations. The 
employment of this poison by the vinegrowers is no new 
thing in France, for it was suggested some twelve years ago 
as a means of combating insect pests, but its use has greatly 
increased in recent years. By far the greater part of the 
arsenic employed comes from a Spanish mining district. In 
1901 this district supplied 120 tons of arsenical ores, while 
in 1905 the quantity necessary for agricultural needs had 
risen to 4810 tons. Arsenic is not only employed in viti- 
culture but also used for diseases of olives, and various in- 
stances of fatal poisoning have occurred in animals that have 
fed under the olive trees. At the conclusion of his address 
M. Cazeneuve asked the Academy to point out the dangers 
which might arise from the indiscriminate use of arsenic.” 
Enormous quantities of arsenic are used in many countries 
in connection with fruit-growing and other horticultural and 
agricultural operations. No one would for a moment object 
to such uses of a virulent poison if it is indispensable, but 
there is reason to believe that it is used much too freely and 
without sufficient discrimination. 
The whole question of the uses of arsenic in horticulture 
is deserving of scientific investigation by someone equipped 
with adequate botanical and chemical knowledge, and anyone 
who takes the matter up will render good service to practical 
agriculturists and horticulturists. I commend this suggestion 
to the Fellows of this Society. 
Mr. W. CALDWELL CRAWFORD, M.A., showed a specimen of 
a Myxomycete, Reticularia Lycoperdon, found in a garden at 
Colinton Road. 
Dr. A. W. Bortuwick exhibited young larch plants 
attacked by Hylobius abietis. 
