Arsenical Poisoning of Fruit Trees. 
35 
arsenic and copper, is conclusive proof that this tree has obtained the 
arsenic which we find in its roots and branches from the spray material 
applied to the adjacent pear atTG> apple trees, for the tree itself has 
never been sprayed. In this tree we have no corroded crown, but 
there is an injured strip running obliquely up the trunk. I could 
not trace it below the surface of the ground. While some of the 
roots show signs of disease none of them are corroded. One side 
of the tree is already dead and the trouble is involving more and more 
of the tree; arsenic and copper are present in the woody tissues of the 
limbs. The root was tested for arsenic only. There seems to me no 
other conclusion to draw from these facts but that the tree has gathered 
these poisons from the orchard soil. 
Lead and Copper in the Trees. 
The question whether these metals are playing any part in the 
troubles which we are discussing or not is certainly germane, but while 
I am ready to believe that they may have some influence the action of 
the arsenic seems so clearly to be able to account for all that we have 
found, that it seems needless to attempt to discuss either lead or cop- 
oer though we know that the latter can and has injured trees when used 
in too large quantities. 
I have examined a large number of trees for the presence of lead 
and have always found it. Lead has been determined in but one 
sample in which 0.003% metallic lead was found. This is practically 
all that we have done with the lead and copper, i. e., we have examined 
the woody tissues for them, because I consider their presence as es¬ 
tablishing the source of the arsenic with a fair degree of certainty 
and not because I wished to consider the question of their poisonous 
character. 
The Effect of Lime. 
This question is involved in more obscurity than any other 
that has been met with up to this time. I know of several orchards in 
which the trees are small for their age and do not show the thriftiness 
that the care they have received would justify one in expecting. Four 
of the orchards that T have in mind receive excellent care, but many 
of the trees are not healthy. There is some irritant arsenical poison¬ 
ing present but these cases are not numerous and it has nothing to 
do with the condition here discussed. The one feature that I wish to 
present in this paragraph is that of bleeding. Namely, the wounds 
made in trimming last season will bleed badly this season. They 
sometimes do not bleed the first season but bleed badly the second. 
In some of these orchards the bark splits and bleeding ensues. The 
splitting of the bark may take place on the limbs or on the trunk. 
The bleeding -is almost always profuse. This bleeding is so far as I 
can recall at this time confined to land that is very marly or underlaid 
by a stratum of marl. Sometimes this stratum is quite thick, two feet 
or more, at others it may not be more than a few inches in thickness. 
