^8 



As a guide to millers who may use this method for exterminat- 

 ing insect pests in mills, I will quote several letters from practi- 

 cal millers who have used bisulphide of carbon successfully. The 

 superintendent of a large Pennsylvania milling company, whose 

 name is withheld by request, under date of July 12, 1895, wrote 

 me the following letter, which is a valuable contribution to this 

 subject, and should be read by every wide-awake miller and grain 

 dealer: 



"We have delayed answering your valued favor of May 

 last until we were able to report the result of our efforts to de- 

 stroy the weevils in our mill. Following in the line of your ad- 

 vice, we ran our stock down and thoroughly renovated our mill 

 from top to bottom, cleaning all reels and purifiers. We then 

 fumigated the whole mill with bisulphide of carbon. We distrib- 

 uted 800 soiip plates about half filled with bisulphide through 

 the mill, and saturated balls of cotton with the same material 

 and placed them in all the reels and purifiers. This we did on 

 Saturday night and closed the mill tight and left the weevils to 

 their destruction. 



"We opened the mill Monday morning and thoroughly venti- 

 lated it before starting. We found that we had destroyed thou- 

 sands, and in the reels and purifiers we had killed them all. In 

 the course of a few days, however, they began to show up in the 

 cracks in the floors all over the mill, and in dark corners. Two 

 weeks later we repeated the dose of bisulphide in the same man- 

 ner and obtained about the same results. In the meantime, how- 

 ever, we whitewashed the mill from top to bottom, that is, every 

 place that could be covered, putting on a good heavy coat. We 

 have not destroyed them all by any means; but we have reduced 

 their forces to a very small number. Eternal vigilance is the 

 order cf the day. 



"We are still fighting them. Onr plan is to keep a stock of 

 bisulphide on hand oafcside of the mill building, as we do not 

 think it advisable to store it in the mill on account of its in- 

 flammable nature. Wherever we find a place infested by the wee- 

 vil we use it freely, taking care to do it when the mill is shut 

 down and closed up tight. We find the best results from the use 

 of bisulphide of carbon can be obtained by spraying it on the floors 

 and infested places. We think when placed in plates it does not 

 evaporate quick enough to produce the death atmosphere required. 

 Before closing let us return our sincere thanks to you for the 

 interest you have taken in the matter, and assure you that we 

 appreciate your valuable advice." 



The "American Miller" for July, 1895, contains another inter- 

 esting and valuable communication on this subject, from Mr. H. 

 J. Laurie, of Norwalk, Ohio, and I quote it here in full: 



"As the season is now upon us when a large majority of the flouring- 

 mills of the country are being troubled with insects of various 

 kinds, such as weevils, worms, moths, etc., I thought it might not 

 be out of place to give our experience here with bisulphide of 

 carbon, which we have been using for several seasons with very 

 satisfactory results. 



