The Canadian Hokticulturist. 115 



planted for profit ; but another year it may be knotty and mis-shapen, and, in 

 consequence, universally condemned. 



It will be seen from all this how unwise it is for anyone to begin fruit busi- 

 ness and confine his planting to too few varieties, or to be too much governed 

 by any one man's advice, or the experience of any one season. 



THE TOXICOLOGY OF THE COPPER COMPOUNDS WHEN 

 APPLIED AS FUNGICIDES. 



After considering the chemistry of the copper compounds, the form in which 

 they appear on the grapes, and giving a careful review of the opinions of leading 

 chemists and medical authorities here and abroad, Professor Fairchild, gave the 

 following conclusions, based upon his examinations of grapes from the Hudson 

 River district, where the largest amounts of copper were used : 



I. The danger from the daily absorption of small quantities of copper salts 

 with foods has been greatly exaggerated. The poisonous nature of such doses 

 is not only not proven, but is denied by eminent authorities, whose views are 

 supported by abundant evidence. 



3. Grapes sprayed with the Bordeaux mixture according to the directions 

 of the department in their latest publications cannot possibly contain more than 

 35.1000 of a grain of copper to a pound of grapes in the bunch, which amount 

 is less than one-tenth of the amount contained in a pound of ordinary beef-liver, 

 and absolutely inoffensive to the human system. 



3. The insoluble form in which the salt of copper occurs upon the clusters, 

 and the fact that the consumers do not eat the skins nor stems, places the 

 mixture further still from suspicion. 



4. The use of a reduced formula for the Bordeaux mixture, containing only 

 two pounds of copper sulphate in place of six, and the substitution of the 

 ordinary ammoniacal solution for the latest treatments immediately before 

 ripening, will place the practice beyond the slightest possible suspicion. 



Dr. ^'an Slyke, who analyzed the grapes from the Hudson River district, from 

 which the grapes causing the trouble in the New York market came, gave the 

 results of his analysis, some of which were not worked out in time to incorporate 

 them in Professor Fairchild's paper. 



The amount found on the grapes, he said, was very constant, varying from 

 T^T to T^fi grain per pound of fruit and stems. Physicians give one-fourth grain 

 doses of copper as a tonic and astringent. Three thousand pounds, stems and 

 all, would have to be eaten to get a dangerous amount of copper. The copper 

 does not occur in the form of sulphate on the fruit, but as carbonate, which is 

 not nearly so soluble. — Procct'divgs IV. JV. K Ifor/. Soc. 



