The Indian Wheat and Rice IFeevil. 9 



removed, and the place itself thoroughly disinfected, must necessarily be 

 attacked, and in its turn serve to propagate the pest and carry on 

 infection to other grain. 



The greatest care should be taken to prevent the grain becoming 

 affected before it reaches the granary. It must be borne in mind that 

 grain, apparently free from weevil, may, in reality, be badly infested 

 by both eggs and larvae, as the only sign of the presence of these may 

 be a minute puncture, invisible except on the closest scrutiny. 



Before new grain is brought in, the granary should be cleared out, 

 all old grain being most carefully and scrupulously removed, and the 

 whole place thoroughly cleared out, the walls and ceilings white-washed, 

 all cracks in the floor and corners filled up with fresh mortar, and the 

 whole building thoroughly disinfected with sulphur fumes. This is 

 necessary, because the beetle has a habit of hiding itself in chinks 

 and cracks, and so will escape if this cleaning and disinfecting be not 

 of the most thorough description. 



The granary should be isolated from other buildings, and care should 

 be taken to remove any rubbish that might afford shelter to the insects; 

 coal tar, which is peculiarly distasteful to insect life, being copiously 

 used on outside work. 



If these measures are carried out completely, there seems to be con- 

 siderable probability that grain will be secui*ed from the attack of the pest. 



The disinfection of granaries would no doubt be rendered more com- 

 plete by washing down the walls, ceilings, and floors with kerosine, to 

 which all insects are particularly sensitive, or with even a diluted emul- 

 sion made by violently churning about two parts of kerosine with one 

 part of water in which half a pound of soap has been dissolved, so as to 

 make it possible to efficiently dilute the kerosine with water. It would 

 be necessary to ascertain, however, to what extent the odour of kerosine 

 is pi'ejudicial to the grain. 



The insects might, no doubt also to a certain extent, be poisoned 

 by means of common white arsenic, or by the arsenic compounds known 

 as London purple and Paris green. Any application of these poisons, 

 however, would seem to be far too dangerous to be attempted under any 

 circumstances in a granary. 



It may here be added that samples of grain, kept in well closed 



bottles which contain even a minute quantity of 



Samples. i • i i • i <. i i i i- i -i, 



bisulphide or carbon, naphthaline, or camphor, will 



probably be found to remain indefinitely free from weevils. 



While the above was passing through the press, the writer had an 



p . . , opportunity of visiting some threshing floors and 



fields of ripe wheat iu Cawnpore, and wheat bazaars 



