118 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [11 Feb., 1918. 



Neither in this, noi- in wheat as it emerges from the thresher with a 

 moisture content up to 6.7 per cent, will weevil breed. With 8 per cent. 

 of moisture they died in six weeks without breeding; at 9 per cent, they 

 remained dormant, but with anything above the latter, provided they 

 had free air, they became active and bred. It would thus appear that 

 dry wheat stored in air-tight bins is immune from the attack of weevils. 

 Wheat when first bagged does not, under ordinary circumstances, contain 

 sufficient moisture to enable weevils to breed, therefore, unless moisture 

 is added from without, the grain remains weevil proof. Thus if stored 

 in a fairly dry climate, completely protected from the weather, it is 

 certain that wheat may be stored for an indefinite period without any 

 damage from weevil. 



Treatment of Damaged Grain. 



The serious plague of mice which occurred last season in New South 

 Wales, Victoria, and South Australia resulted in considerable damage 

 to the wheat stored at inland centres. Whilst a certain proportion of the 

 wheat was devoured by the rodents a considerable quantity was damaged 

 or tainted. Some stored wheat was also damaged owing to rain and the 

 attacks of weevils- 



The problem therefore arose as to the best method for treating such 

 damaged grain to prevent further deterioratiou, and, if possible, to 

 purify it so that it could be utilized for food purposes. In July, 1917, 

 the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Advisory Council of 

 •Science and Industry had an interview with Mr. A. O. Barrett, who has 

 had considerable experience with grain in bag stacks, and he outlined a 

 scheme whereby wheat should be stored in special silos after mixing with 

 quicklime. He claimed that this lime-tteatment has the following 

 advantages: — (1) It dries ordinary f.a.q. wheat, thus rendering it less 

 liable to attacks of weevils and at the same time improving its milling 

 qualities; (2) it destroys the smell of mouse tainted or smutty wheat, 

 and sterilizes the outside of the grain ; (3) it removes the smell of damp, 

 musty wheat, and arrests further deterioration by fungus pests; (4) it 

 inhibits the growth of weevils in wheat already infested and prevents 

 them from developing. These statements were supported by the exhibi- 

 tion of samples of damaged wheat which had been purified in the manner 

 indicated, on a laboratory scale. 



The Executive Committee thereupon appointed Professor D. Orme 

 Masson, F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry; Dr. W. Heber Green, Lecturer 

 in Agricultural Chemistry; and Dr. W. J. Bull, Lecturer in Bacteriology 

 in the University of Melbourne, together with Professor T. R. Lyle, 

 F.R.S., to carry out tests of the effects of quicklime on damaged grain on 

 a larger scale, and gratefully accepted Mr. Barrett's offer to allow ex- 

 periments to be undertaken at the firm's mailings at Richmond. The 

 reporti on these experiments forms the main part of Bulletin No. 5, 

 recently issued by the Advisory Council of Science and Industry. 



Various samples of wheat, including (1) good, (2) weevily, (3) 

 tainted, (4) damp and damaged. (.5) mousey, were treated first by passing 

 each lot through a small sized Eureka wheat cleaning machine. The 

 cleaned wheati was then weighed and mixed with 1 per cent, of its weight 

 of quicklime, then stored for about fourteen days. The good wheat 

 f.a.q. (Federation type) )>arted with a considerable amount of moisture, 

 and the general effect was that the addition of quicklime to sound grain 

 is in no way harmful, and may be expected to produce some slight 

 improvement. A.11 weevils in the adult stage, and practically all grain 

 attacked, were removed upon screening the weevily wheat, but the 



