Circular No. 142. issued September 16, 1911. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 

 L. O. HOAVARD, Entomologist and Chief of Bureau. 



THE INDIAN-MEAL MOTH AND "WEEVIL-CUT" PEANUTS. 



By C. H. PoPENOE, 

 Entomological Afisistant, Truck Crop and Stored Product Insect Invcfitigations. 



Until a feAv years ago the peanut had been considered as almost 

 immune from insect injury, the plant being affected by few insects, 

 and the " nuts " being protected by their thick shells again.st most 

 of the usual insect enemies of stored products. There are, it is 

 true, one or two species of beetles which by reason of their horny 

 jaws are able to cut readil}' through the woody tissue, but the injury 

 from any of these had been infinitesimal. 



Since the advent of the mechanical thrasher or " peanut picker " 

 conditions have changed to a great degree.' The machinerv is by 

 no means perfect as yet, and the tendenc}^ of the operator to feed 

 the peanuts too quickly through the machine results in a large per- 

 centage of broken shells, and affords ea.s}' entrance to several of the 

 common stored-jjroduct pests. It is estimated that between 20 and 

 30 per cent of the peanuts are injured in this manner, consequently 

 becoming "seconds,'' and in nearly every case becoming infested in 

 a short time after being stored.^ 



Another source of injury to the shells of the peanuts, affording 

 ingress to insects, is the practice of piling the sacked nuts high in 



lAt a meeting held .June 14, 1911, at the Department of Agriculture, Washington, 

 D. C, which was attended by many pi'ominent peanut dealers, chiefly from Norfolk, 

 Suffolk, and Tortsmouth, Va., and from Xorth and South Carolina, the question of how 

 to treat "cut" peanuts was discussed I)y Mr. Popenco and by the writer, and an agree- 

 ment was reached to undertake the project of testing remedies for peanuts in store. The 

 value of the peanut industry for 1010 was estimated at $1.5.000,000. Assuming the 

 percentage of insect injury to be the same as that to stored cereals, the loss to the 

 peanut dealers would lie 20 per cent, or, at a conservative estimate, .$3,000,000. One 

 prominent dealer was about to abandon the industry because of insect injury. In tide- 

 water Virginia, wliere a preliminary investigation was made, Mr. Popenoe was assisted by 

 Mr. F. A. Johnston and by Mr. W. It. Heattie, of the Bureau of Plant Industry. Indeed, 

 it was owing to ihe services of Mr. Beattie that this investigation was begun. The accom- 

 panying circular is being issued by request of the peanut growers. — F. H. Chittendek. 



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