-664 
THK RURAL N KW-VORKER 
May 29, 
DOES ARSENIC KILL FRUIT TREES? 
Is It Safe To Spray ? 
During the past few weeks a number 
of readers have sent us clippings from 
daily papers in New England, in which 
fruit growers are warned not to use 
arsenic sprays on apple trees. It is 
claimed that in Colorado a number of 
trees have been killed by the arsenic 
used in fighting the Codling worm. 
Reasoning that the arsenic k lied the 
Colorado trees, the writers go on to 
argue that sprays containing this poi¬ 
son are likely to kill trees here in the 
East—in an entirely different climate. 
This is a serious matter for apple 
growers. It is absolutely necessary for 
them to kill the Codling worm in or¬ 
der to have marketable fruit. This 
worm is’ an eating insect, and some 
form of arsenic gives the best results 
in killing it. Unless the arsenic is 
used at once, or shortly after the petals 
fall, the worm will ruin the crop. If 
<>n the other hand, the arsenic is to kill 
the trees, it becomes a serious prob¬ 
lem to know what to do. We have en¬ 
deavored to get at the facts, so that 
our readers may know what to do. It 
appears that the injury in Colorado is 
done at the base of the tree. The 
foliage on top shows no injury, but at 
the bottom of the trunk just at the 
ground a band of bark dies. This 
“collar rot” often extends around the 
trunk and the wood dying, of course 
the tree is ruined. In Colorado, we 
understand, the practice is to spray 
heavily. Usually at least three sprayings 
are made, and often the trees are well 
drenched. The result is that consider¬ 
able of the spray liquid must run down 
the tree trunk to the ground. In that 
rainless climate there are no rains 
such as we have in the East, washing 
and draining the soil. Again, the worst 
of this trouble occurs in strongly "al¬ 
kali" -oil, which leads to the conclusion 
that much of this injury is due to the 
condition of the soil—a condition 
which does not exist at the East. We do 
not believe, therefore, that the damage 
done in Colorado is any argument 
against the use of arsenic in the East. 
It i- shown in the notes below that af¬ 
ter many years of spraying, orchards 
show no injury whatever. You will 
also in lice that Prof. Gillette <>f Colo¬ 
rado still advises one spraying with ar¬ 
senic. 
Not Dangerous in Eastern States. 
1 do not fear any such trouble in the 
East. According to the best informa¬ 
tion which 1 can obtain, the arsenical 
poisoning of fruit trees in Colorado 
lias occurred through, the roots in¬ 
stead of the leaves', and only in a par¬ 
ticular section, known as the “black 
alkali region,” where the soil is strong¬ 
ly alkaline, and where a very great ex¬ 
cess of arsenic is used, that is, much 
more is used upon the foliage than is 
needed. The use of arsenical poisons 
in sprays, as usually applied in the 
Eastern States, has caused no injury 
of this sort, and I do not consider 
them dangeous. w. e. biuttox. 
Connecticut State Entomologist. 
No Damage After 30 Years. 
I believe that even from Colorado we 
ought to have further evidence on the 
subject, as I am not yet prepared to be¬ 
lieve that all of the damage could prop¬ 
erly be attributed to the arsenate. But 
even if that were so I should certainly 
feel that our conditions here in the 
East are so different from their west¬ 
ern ones, particularly in the amount of 
rain which we get here, that no dam¬ 
age need be feared. I think that the 
strongest evidence we have—and evi¬ 
dence which it seems to me is more 
than sufficient to counterbalance the 
Colorado experiments—is the fact that 
we have in this part of the country or¬ 
chards which have been sprayed for 30 
years or more without any appearance 
of damage from such- spraying. I re¬ 
call in particular one orchard in Nova 
Scotia which has been sprayed continu¬ 
ously,. almost since 1875, using Paris 
green, and later arsenate of lead, yet 
there has never been anj» appearance of 
this damage from the arsenic. 
Mass. Exp. Station. f. c. sears. 
The Situation in Colorado. 
We wrote Prof. C. P. Gillette, of the 
Colorado Station suggesting that one 
reason for the trouble might be the 
lack of rain in Colorado—the arsenic 
remaining on the foliage. He says in 
reply: 
So far as I know everyone here is 
thoroughly convinced that Dr. Head- 
den was conservative in his statements, 
issued in Bulletin 131, from this sta¬ 
tion, in regard to the bad effects of the 
arsenical sprays upon apple and pear 
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trees. As it has been quite thoroughly 
proven that it is not necessary to make 
more than one, or at the most two, ap¬ 
plications, in order to get good results, 
I thought it advisable to recommend to 
the fruit growers of this State that 
they lessen the number of sprays to 
one if their orchards have been sprayed 
excessively heretofore, and not more 
than two applications in any case in a 
year. 1 do not think you are right in 
thinking that arsenical spraying does 
more injury to trees in a dry cli¬ 
mate than in a humid one. In fact, I 
have always thought that the reverse 
was true. So long as the leaves of 
trees bearing arsenical sprays are kept 
dry the arsenic docs not dissolve, but 
where there are frequent rains and 
heavy dews, the arsenic dissolve's to 
some extent, and then passes by os¬ 
mosis into the. substance of the leaf 
and kills it. I have always felt safe 
in recommending a stronger applica¬ 
tion here than is safe for the East, for 
the reason that we almost never injure 
foliage in Colorado if we have an ar¬ 
senical preparation that docs not con¬ 
tain much free arsenic. The poisoning 
that has been done seems to be the re¬ 
sult of the accumulation of the arsenic 
about the crown of the tree, which in 
many cases has corroded the bark so 
as entirely to girdle the trees at the 
crown; as you will see by reading Dr. 
Headden’s (bulletin. It is also suggested 
that some of the poisoning is probably 
due to the arsenic in the -soil being 
taken up by the roots and carried to all 
parts of the trees. c. p. Gillette. 
Fort Collins, Col. 
No Reason for Alarm. 
I cannot believe that the Colorado 
conclusions apply to New York orchards, 
even if they are fully justified for Col¬ 
orado orchards. There arc many or¬ 
chards in the East, take for an exam¬ 
ple, the one on the station grounds, 
which have been sprayed for 15 or 20 
years, and yet show no signs of trunk 
or root injury. There is no- evidence 
of which I can learn from this State or 
any Eastern States, to show that we 
need to fear in the least arsenical poi¬ 
soning of fruit trees. From an ex¬ 
perience of nearly three years in Utah, 
I am inclined to believe that 
the troubles described by Dr. 
are due to the peculiar soil 
matic conditions of that 
There is much alkali in many 
orchard regions of the Rocky 
some of 
11 eadden 
and cli- 
region. 
of the 
Moun¬ 
tain basin, and I believe from observa¬ 
tion that some of the troubles described 
in the Colorado bulletin may be due to 
alkali. I am sure that in unsprayed or¬ 
chards in that region, there are troubles 
that we do not have in the East, 
•which may be ascribed to the soil. I 
suspect too that the lack of rain to 
carry off or carry down the arsenical 
compounds in the Colorado soil, would 
cause greater deposits of such com¬ 
pounds in their soil, than here where 
we have a far greater quantity of rain 
water. If I am not mistaken, too, the 
fruit growers in that region have been 
using larger quantities of the arsenical 
compounds than we use in the East. 
Whatever may be the situation in the 
West, there is no reason for alarm 
among our fruit growers, for as yet 
there is absolutely nothing to indicate 
that we are having trouble from the 
use of coo much arsenic on fruit trees. 
U. P. HEDRICK. 
Geneva, N. Y., Station. 
Remedy for Cabbage Maggots. 
Last year and 1907 we were unable to 
raise any early cabbage in our garden. We 
bad nice large stocky plants that grew 
quickly, until stems were about one-half 
inch thick, when the plants began to die. 
We found the stems literally eaten ex¬ 
cept. the outer shell, and filled with mag¬ 
gots. We tried many remedies, Paris- 
green water, tobacep dust, salt, coal oil and 
sand, sulphur, hut" nothing seemed to de¬ 
stroy them; they killed the stalks. 
Pennsylvania. h. u. C. 
Your cabbages were probably attacked 
by tlie cabbage maggot, the larvse of a 
small fly that lays its eggs on the soil 
near the stems of the plants. Not much 
can he done after the maggots appear. The 
host preventive is to encircle the stem of 
each plant, as soon as set in the field, with 
a piece of ordinary tarred building paper 
three or four inches broad. Make a small 
hole in the middle of paper large enough to 
receive the stem and cut a slit from the 
outside to the hole so that the paper oan 
he slipped on after the plant is set. This 
prevents the fly from laying the eggs. The 
paper must lie flat on the soil encircling 
the stems and will he thrown off as the 
stem grows. Carbon bisulphide injected un¬ 
der the roots at the rate- of one'teaspoon¬ 
ful to each plant will destroy the mag¬ 
gots. hut is expensive and' somewhat 
dangerous to use. 
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