668 Report OF THE HoRTICULTURIST OF THE 
Potassium Xanthate Test. 
A still more delicate test mentioned in the address above 
referred to, is obtained by using potassium vanthate. Add a few 
drops of this compound to a solution supposed to contain copper, 
and if copper is present, there will be produced a yellow color. 
The color can be seen to best advantage against a white back- 
ground. This test is capable of detecting one part of copper in 
800,000 parts of solution. 
Pears Injured by Spraying. 
In connection with the experiments conducted by the Station 
in 1894, as reported on previous pages, injury;to both foliage and 
fruit sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, was observed in many 
instances. When the treated trees were compared with the 
untreated the advantage of spraying was plainly seen, but from 
Mr. Smith’s treatment of trees outside the experimental block it 
appeared doubtful, in some instances, whether sufficient benefit 
was derived from the second treatment after blossoming to counter- 
balance the injury from the treatment. In some cases, after — 
giving two treatments, one before and one after blossoming, it 
would have been better to take the risk of further injury from 
the scab instead of giving another spraying. On some trees 
sprayed only once, and that before blossoming, slight injury was 
apparent, but increased injury was seen where the trees were 
sprayed both before and after blossoming. In the former instance 
the treatment was about May 4, in the later instance the treat- 
ments were made about May 4 and May 15. The rainy 
period began May 16, and the injury was not observed till 
after it had been raining about 10 days. 
The injurious effect as it appeared on the Seckels at the time of 
fruit harvest was apparent in three ways. (1) The fruit was evi- 
dently somewhat smaller in size than the average fruit on adjacent 
unsprayed trees. (2) The fruit was less brilliant in color,than 
was the fruit on adjacent unsprayed trees. (3) The fruit, though 
not at all distorted as a result of the spray, was rougher to the 
touch than was the fruit on adjacent unsprayed trees. With some 
other varieties of pears and with some varieties of apples, which 
will be mentioned later, the fruit was distorted on account of 
injury from spraying. When perfect specimens of Seckels were 
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