San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-08-10
They Like Our Apples.

1t is satisfactory to know that the
attempt made some time ago to pre-
iudIce the mines of English consum-
the ground of it being saturated with
arsenic, has utterly failed, and that
our best varieties are as popular as
ever on the other side of the water.
1t was stated in English papers
that the delicate, unnatural bloom
of the American apples is due to ar
senic, drug that is largely used oy
people, especially the sex, in Ameri-
ca, to make the complexion Desuti-
. full" This and other statements
equally absurd were traced to specu-
lators who had an interest in injuring
the sale OF American apples in the
English market.
In order that the matter should be
thoroughly tested q department of
the Massachusetts Agricultural Col
lege, at Amherst. undertook q series
of experiments. To determine the
amount of copper and arsenic adher-
ing to the surface of apples flor it
could not have been absor bed in to the
substance Of the fruit which had
been sprayed three times with Borde-
oux mixture and paris green for the
purpose of protecting them from in
seets, twenty apples, measuring one
peck, were SUBJ ected to analyis.
The amount of copper oxide found
on the apples was twenty two thou.
ssndts of grain. This equals about
five ten thousandths of ounce to the
barrel, or, in other words, it would
require 1000 barrels TO yield ounce OF
copper oxide.
The specimens selected for this ana
lysis were those with the toughest
surfaces, to which would adhere more
of tie copper solution of Paris green
than to the average apple. Not a
trace of arsenic could be detected In
this analysis.
When the fact is borne in mind that
probably not one fruit grower in a
hundred throughout the country used
paris green at all, and that not one
barrel in thousands came from
sprayed trees, the absurdity Of the
scare" becomes still more apparent.
1t is, however, as well to recall the
facts of the case by way of offset
against any possible attempt 10 revive
the alarm during the coming season.
Some of the odd Things Seen and
Heard at summer Resorts.
Ricnfield Springs has gone bug
mad. This statement has an invid-
'ous sound, | am aware, says a cor
respondent, but it is the unvarnlshed
truth, none the less. There may be
palliation in the fact that the insects
nf a hin N nrdar nf AN
They are not losthsOme. On the con-
trary, these bugs over which Rich.
field has lost its wits temporarily are
harmless unobtrusive and in some
respects beautiful members of their
kind. They are of the genus Elator
noctilucus, described by naturalists
as "a winged, luminous insect which
emits brilliant light from a yellow
spot on each side OF the thorax and
from other parts of the body"
These particular specimens were
brought to Richfield by the Cuban
grandees at the Darlington, and by
them introduced to the throng on the
verandas one evening of the past
week. The Cubans had thirty or
forty of the curious beetle-like insects,
more than half of which they gave
away to ladies among their acquain-
tances. Fastened TO the dress in q
piece of lace, the curruIlas, as they
are called by the natives, look in the
dark like a cluster of emeralds OF
wonderful brilliancy, and as every
lady who could get one has worn il
with her evening toilet the effect has
created decidedly novel sensation