45 



in such places. This liability 

 "^ may be removed by the sub- 

 stitution of metal for wooden 

 spouts. The metal spout 

 was lirst used for this pur- 

 pose by the inventor, Mr. L. 

 C. Schroeder, of Olean, New 

 Yorii, and is protected by a 

 patent. These spouts are 

 perfectly smooth and there 

 is no chance for an insect to- 

 find lodgement within them. 

 The inventor claims that they 

 can be made for less money 

 than the lumber costs for 

 wooden one?, and that a mill- 

 wright is not needed to put 

 them in position. (See Fig. 6. ) 

 I might say in this connec- 

 tion that Mr. Schrceder has 

 also applied for a patent for 

 a metal elevator leg, which, 

 when on the market, will 

 afford another useful piece of 

 Fig. 6- Adjustable metal spo.t. apparatus for preventing the 



establishment of injurious insects in these parts of a mill. 



Where metal spouts have been resorted to in mills overrun with 

 this scourge, the results have been very satisfactory. In March, 1895, 

 a New York miller wrote me the following letter on this subject: 

 "I have discontinued the use of wooden spouts and have substi- 

 tuted metal ones. Since I adopted this spout I have had no 

 trouble with the moth in the plant, but it has drifted from 

 here to the flour department, and seems to be most abundant in 

 the purifiers and rollers. I am now removing all the wooden 

 spouts as fast as I can in the flour depprtment, and I hope to be 

 able to get rid of the pest before warm weather comes on." 



This letter was followed by another communication from the same 

 miller, dated August 14, which I quote in full, and which needs no 

 comment: "The Mediterranean flour moth is a thing of the past, 

 or nearly so, in our mill. When I wrote you last [March 17] 

 this mill was alive with them; but I have rooted them out by 

 degrees. I was confident I could do it. As I said before, they 

 shifted about from the meal department to the buckwheat depart- 

 ment and then to the flour department, all three plants being 

 located under one and the same roof. The latter part of May I 

 shut down four days for the sole purpose oi cleaning out this 

 pest. I ran down the stock as close as possible and then had the 

 mill swept from top to bottom. I then took down all wooden 

 spouts and replaced them with metal spouts. I have metal spouts 

 here which were put in nearly twelve months ago in our meal 

 department, and during that time not a moth has been seen in 



