The National tribune., 1893-07-20
OUR RURAL TOPICS
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers


| fruits which have been sprayed while growing
With arsenical poison is attended with danger,
the following clear statements by Prof C. Fl.
Tyler Townsend. EntomOIOgist Of the New
Mexico Experiment Station, at Las Cruces, will
be read with interest: year ago the Pal
Nal Gazette of London, England, published 4
most sensational article, alleging that the use
OF American apples was unsafe on account Of
the large amount Of arsenic which American
orehsrdists spray upon their fruit to protect 10
from insects. It was alleged that the fruit Was
by this means completely saturated. and that
the bloom or white powder" found on Amer
| lean apples was arsenic brought TO the surface
by evaporation. These statements, which are
without a shadow of foundation, were made
without doubt in the interest of spectators,
| and with the sole view of injuring the sale OF
American apples in England. Now the facts in
the case are these:
If the poison is used Ia the strength Of one
pound to 200 gallons Of water, it may be easily
computed that the arsenic viii be so distributed
through the water as to make it necessary for
person to consume several barrels Of apples
at a sitting in order to obtain a fatal dose.
According to our most eminent medical author
corded is two grains person would Be
obliged to eat something like 20 bushels Of
sprayed apples at one time in order to obtain
| the above amount
To determine the approximate amount Of
| poison which would be found upon grass be-
meath trees that had just been sprayed, the
| following experiment was made at the Michigan
| Agricultural College. A thick paper was placed
| under an apple tree, which was then thoroughly
| sprayed on a windy day, so that the dripping
| was excessive After this had ceased, the
| paper, which covered space of - square feet,
| was analysed and found to contain but very
little arsenic. Another tree was sprayed, and
| the grass and clover beneath it was afterward
| cut and fed to horse without the faintest sign
of injury.
Apropos Of this subject may be mentioned
the following relating to the use of the BOr-
| deaux mixture" (mostly sulphate Of copper
for the mildew and rot Of grapes.
In the early Autumn Of 1881 the Board OF
Health of New York City condemned several
carloads of grapes as dangerous to the public
health, and ordered them destroyed, because
they were slightly dis6gured with the Bor-
deaux mixture. This caused scare" and
serious fail in prices, so that the market was
bad for the rest of the season. To determine
the exact amount Of copper adhering to such
grapes, the Massachusetts Station at Amherst
analysed 10 pounds of grapes which were badly
disfgured from spraying with this solution.
Only two thousandths of one per cent Of oxide
of copper was found in the 10 pounds A
person would have to eat one-half to one ton
of such grapes at one time, skins stems aud
all, if he wished to obtain an injurious effect.
These experiments are sufficient to demon
strate the utter impossbiiit of any poisonous
effects resulting from the proper use of these
sprays. Careful microscopic examinations have
been made, which show that, after the water
in the spray has evapOrated, the poison is soon
entirely dispersed, being blown of by the
winds or washed off by rain. As a matter Of
fact substantiated case Of poisoning, either
of man or animals has ever been reported
from the use of arsenicsI sprays as insecticides,
notwithstanding the extensive use of such in
this country during period Of many years.
The chief object in cultivation is to open up
fresh earth to the action of the air. The sur
face being kept mellow and moist by eultiva-
ton, the forces of Nature, both in the earth
and in the air, are brought into active and
effective work in the preparation and supply
of plant food and moisture for the use of the
growing crop. The cultivation must be snfi-
GENTLY frequent to supply mellow surface
during the entire period of crop growth. Mel
lowness of the surface soil will insure moisture
by holding at the surface the water which
rises constantly from deep down in the earth
by capillary action. 1t, being so held, is taken
up and used by the growing plants, and in
this way the moisture that rises is not evapor-
ated.
The cultivation need not DO Deep and, in
fact, should not be deeper than about three
inches, as mulch of that depth is quite sufi-
cient. Frequent and shallow culture seems
to be the demand, says a writer in Nebraska
Farmer, and wide openings of the soil are to
be avoided as the conditions are not favor
able for retaining moisture Deep-going and
wide shovsls on the cultivatOrs are to be
avoided. To conserve the unlimited sup
plies of fertility contained in the soil and
in the air, but one simple condition is re-
quired, and that is q mellow surface soil. Is
has been said that the air is a great reser-
voir of fertility, and it is doubtless true. If,
then, the soil is kept mellow by cultivation,
the air will com ine its action with that of the
earth, and the elements of plant food will be
made available for the use of plants. Nature
has so ordained that the air must be brought
into action upon the earth in order to prepare
the elements of fertility in both in suitable
forms to be used by the growing plants.
To "till the ground" means 30 keep it in
such condition that the air acts in harmony
with the earth in the elaboration of plant-foOd
in suitable forms to be used by the growing
crop. Laying by" corn with three cultivs-
tions is insufficient to supply the essential con-
ditons of crop growth, but the Objector may
say that good crops grown by three or four
civilizations; but it is fact that when extra
exertion has been stimulated by the offer Of
large prizes that $50 bushels of corn have been
grown on one acre, and 900 bushels of potatoes
from the same amount of land. These extra
ordinary yields show something of the capacity
of production under better conditions than
those ordinarily supplied by slack cultivation.
The limit of production is not yet known, nor
will it ever be reached until that happy time
comes when "the earth shall yield her in
crease" and the edict "cursed be the ground"
shall be removed, and the restitution of all
things" shall have been fulfilled.
Dry-weather cultivation needs to be frequent
to prevent the soil drying out and becoming
hard, thus retarding the action of the air on
the earth. The moisture in the earth rises to
faIlf rtay,f b.o,