Thl Canadian Horticulturist. 113 



THE RESULTS OE AN EXPERIMENT TO PROVE THAT APPLES 



ARE NOT POISONED BY SPRAYING WITH PARIS GREEN 



FOR CODLING MOTH. 



STATEMENT appeared a short time ago in a horticultural paper, 

 published in Great Britain, to the effect that Canadian apples con- 

 tained a small cjuantity of arsenic, and were consequently poisonous. 

 This, it was said, was due to our practice of spraying with Paris 

 green after the petals have dropped, in order to preserve the fruit 

 from the ravages of the Codling Moth. This assertion received wide 

 circulation in the British press, and was calculated to do a great deal of harm to 

 the Canadian export apple trade. It is not the first time that a rumor to this 

 effect has been set afloat, either by interested or ignorant people. That the sus- 

 picion is entirely without foundation has been asserted by scientists and practical 

 men in Canada and the United States, on several occasions. Hitherto, however, 

 no chemical work has been done in Canada to place before our horticulturists 

 and shipowners, as well as the British people, scientific proof for refuting the 

 statement. 



Mr. James Fletcher, Dominion Etomologist, therefore procured a sample of 

 apples that had undoubtedly been sprayed, and submitted them to a careful 

 chemical analysis. The apples examined (Rhode Island Greenings), were kindly 

 furnished by Mr. W'oolverton, editor of the Canadian Horticulturist, who 

 personally vouched for the fact, that they were twice sprayed last June, with 

 Paris green of the strength of one pound of the material to 200 gallons of water. 

 The apples, when received, were just as they had come from the tress, i.e., had 

 not been rubbed, so that any arsenic left from the spraying would still be on the 

 skin. 



The quantity tested for arsenic was 9 lbs. 7 oz., measuring about one peck. 

 The process to which they were submitted is one that affords extremely accurate 

 results, and is considered the most delicate of all for the detection of arsenic. 

 It is capable of revealing the presence of one fifty thousandth part of a grain of 

 arsenic. If 23.000 bushels of apples contained 1^4 grains of arsenic, (as Ag O3), 

 the minimum fatal dose for an adult, the poison could have been detected by 

 this method. 



Though all care was exercised, not a trace of arsenic could be detected, thus 

 showing the complete absence of this poison in those apples that had been twice 

 sprayed with Paris green. 



I am of the opinion that further experiments of this nature would only serve 

 to corroborate this negative result, and to prove that there are no grounds on 

 which to base a suspicion that our sprayed apples are poisonous. 



The insoluble character of this poison, precluding its assimilation by the 

 apple, if such were possible, the infinitesimal part of Paris green that can remain 

 on any apple, the frequent rains subsequent to the spraying, and the fact that 

 apples are pared before using, all go to substantiate the argument that there is 

 not the slightest danger of poisoning in using sprayed apples. F. T. Shutt. 



