TJie Canadian Horticulturist. 



253 



from a unique and jet not an un- 

 common sort of poisoning. Havinj,' 

 placed a lawn chair, covered with a 

 coat of cheap green paint, in m)' 

 study, the arsenic contained in the 

 paint was volatized by the heat of 

 the radiator until my whole system 

 was penetrated with the mineral. 

 It will be months before I will recover 

 mv health. 



The use of arsenicated paints is 

 growing more and more common, 

 but should never be tolerated on 

 furniture or wall inside the house. 

 Green shades of wall paper are to be 

 avoided as probably containing 

 arsenic. Whole families have been 

 poisoned by such apparently harm- 

 less decorations. 



The extensive use now made of 

 Paris green and other arsenical 

 poisons should be a warning to us. 

 Some of our ablest physicians insist 

 that tliere are forms of disease trace- 

 able directly to thepresenceof arsenic 

 in the potato. This, I doubt, and yet 

 it seems certain that the use of 

 arsenic on vegetation more or less 

 checking the perfectly healthy de- 



velopment of the leaves, produces a 

 chemical change in the tubers de- 

 trimental to health. 



It is getting almost impossible to 

 purchase potatoes entirely free from 

 a tinge of bitterness, while a very 

 large part of the potatoes that find 

 their way to market are quite unfit 

 for use. Many farmers use five or 

 ten times as much Paris green on a 

 potato field as is necessar}' for the 

 purpose of destroying the Colorado 

 beetle. 



The practice of sprinkling Paris 

 green into cabbage heads is criminal 

 and inexcusable. 



I have recently seen the account 

 of five persons having been killed 

 by the use of such' cabbage. 



Probabh' there is no direct danger, 

 from the recently derived method of 

 sprajing apple and plum trees, to the 

 fruit eater, but there is serious 

 danger to those who handle the 

 poisons. Paris green should be used 

 and stored with every precaution. 

 We are getting quite too familiar 

 with the drug and are losing our fear 

 of it. — Mai'vldiid Fanner. 



CULTIVATION OF PEACH ORCHARDS. 



IT has been our experience that 

 the best cultivated orchards pay 

 the best. The trees thrive admira- 

 bly under the severest cultivation. 

 It might seem that the mutilation of 

 the roots of a tree, while in a grow- 

 ing state and so near the stirface as 

 are those of the peach, would enfee- 

 ble or kill it outright. But it is not 

 so. The aerating and pulverising of 

 the soil more than compensates for 

 the injurv to the roots. A leading 

 an.l successful peach grower in Mi- 

 chigan says : " It puts me out of pa- 

 tience to hear any one whose opinion 

 has any weight deprecate or discour- 

 age in any way the most thorough 

 cultivation. I liave an orchard 



which for eighteen years has been 

 plowed annually, to the depth of five 

 or six inches, some time in April or 

 May ; then in about two weeks when 

 the weeds have sprung up, a heavy 

 harrow has been passed over both 

 ways. After this when the weeds 

 were stronger and larger, a two-horse 

 cultivator set to run four or five 

 inches in depth has been passed over 

 from three to five times during the 

 season. This is each season's culti- 

 vation, and I suppose, according to 

 many writer's views, that nn- trees 

 ought to have been dead long ago ; 

 and yet I believe there are more 

 peaches of the best quality grown on 

 the same number of trees than in any 



