22 
receptacles is an almost perfect preservative of seed stock and other 
products subject to insect attack. Its use is not, however, desirable 
with material that is to be used as food on account of its powerful and 
permanent odor. Salt, air-slaked lime, and powdered sulphur also 
serve the same purpose, but their use is also objectionable for different 
reasons. 
INSECTICIDES AND OTHER DESTRUCTIVE AGENCIES, 
Prior to the adoption of the bisulphide of carbon as a fumigant, heat 
was relied upon in the destruction of these insects. A temperature of 
from 125° to 140° F., continued for a few hours, is fatal to grain insects, 
and wheat can be subjected to a temperature of 150° for a short time 
without destroying its germinating power. Kiln-drying, at a still 
lower degree of heat, has been found effective. 
A low temperature is equally destructive, and in colder climates 
these insects may be successfully dealt with by stirring or turning the 
infested grain, or by filling the buildings with steam and then throwing 
open the windows at night and exposing the insects to frost. 
Steam, as has been said, is in successful use against the flour moth, 
and is employed in the same manner as bisulphide of carbon for the 
disinfection of bags and machinery in the quarantine box. 
Sulphur, properly applied, may be used with benefit when for any 
reason the use of bisulphide’ is not advisable, and sulphur combined 
with steam is particularly destructive to insect life. Its use, however, 
is attended with certain disadvantages, necessitating the removal of all 
grain, as the former is apt to be injured for flour-making and the 
latter for bread-making purposes. 
3enzine and naphtha or gasoline are of some value as fumigants 
for some materials, but do not produce entirely satisfactory results with 
grain, their vapors being insufficient for the destruction of the adoles- 
cent stages of species which breed wholly within the kernel, while each 
of these reagents possesses an offensive and more or less persistent odor. 
They are open, moreover, to the same objections as bisulphide of car- 
bon, the vapor being about equally inflammable and more explosive. 
THE BISULPHIDE OF CARBON TREATMENT. 
The simplest, most effective, and inexpensive remedy for all insects 
that affect stored cereal and other products is the bisulphide of carbon, 
a colorless liquid with a strong, disagreeable odor, which, however, soon 
passes away. It vaporizes abundantly at ordinary temperatures, is 
highly inflammable, and is a powerful poison. 
It may be applied directly to infested grain or seed without injury to - 
its edible or germinative principles by spraying or pouring, but the 
most effective manner of its application in moderately tight bins or 
other receptacles consists in evaporating the liquid in shallow dishes 
or pans, or on bits of cloth or cotton waste distributed about on the 
surface of the infested material. The liquid rapidly volatilizes, and 
