21 



Both the chemicals mentioned are fatal to human life. 

 This does not, perhaps, detract from their value as fumigants 

 where the seed to be treated is a very large quantity and 

 fumigation done under intelligent supervision. But the 

 problem in Mysore is different where there are a multitude of 

 small producers who store their pulses for the greater part of 

 the year both for purposes of consumption and for seed and 

 who, moreover, Hve in houses in which fumigation cannot 

 be conducted under reasonable safeguards. (Frontispiece 

 Fig. 2) Their illiteracy is an even more serious obstacle in 

 the way of recommending the use of dangerous and highly 

 explosive chemicals. 



Means, therefore had to be devised other than fumigation 

 to keep the stores of the raiyat from the beetles. From the 

 very beginning of the investigation the aim was kept steadily 

 in view of finding a remedy which was inexpensive and 

 at the same time adapted to conditions in which the raiyats 

 lived and worked. It was necessary for the realisation of 

 tliis object to study the methods already in practice among 

 the raiyat population. 



The results of the enquiry have been very encouraging 

 and are briefly summarised. It is an essential preliminary 

 to all storage that the seeds should be dried in the sun for 

 three days. After thorough drying the seed is stored in large 

 earthen pots, bins made of split bamboo or in bags made of 

 gunny or matting. The capacity of the pots may vary from a 

 few seers^ to as many as a hundred or more. The bin is made 

 of split bamboo having a large bulging base with a narrow 

 neck. The seed is taken, when wanted, out of a small hole 

 large enough for the hand near the bottom. This is closed 

 by a cocoanut shell brought close against it by a string pass- 

 ing through the eye (Fig. 14). This arrangement obvi- 

 ates the necessity of disturbing the top layers. The disc 

 put on once remains closed except when the whole basket has 

 to be emptied. Bins may be made with interlaced bamboo 

 smeared over with clay. Bamboo bins may be also cylin- 

 drical, but pulses are not generally stored in such. The more 

 usual practice is to store them in bags, gunny or matting, 

 which are always kept one on top of another. A most 

 interesting method is to store in what are called '' n\oodais," 

 which are made out of pelted straw and which when 

 completed are spherical (Frontispiece Fig. I). These 

 " moodais " are tightened further by means of ropes 



*. A 'Beer' ia a local measure equivalent to about 1250 C.Cs. 



