35 



ties than in warm ones, it requiring- longer for the beetles to develop 

 in the former than in the latter. An early opportunity will be taken 

 to experiment with this remedy and growers generally are advised to 

 do the same, taking care to use only practicall}^ air-tight receptacles 

 and to follow the advice furnished in Farmers' Bulletin No. 145. In 

 the meantime we can not advise its use on a large scale. 



Scalding and drylm/. — Many growers make a practice of gathering 

 nuts as rapidly as they fall and plunging them into boiling water long 

 enough to kill the contained insects and not injure the nuts for mar- 

 ket, after which they are dried before being packed and marketed. 

 Mr. William P. Corsa, of this Department, reports success in scalding 

 and drying the luits in the sun before storing. Some use a sieve, 

 which is plunged into the boiling water and quickly removed. He 

 uses a washtul), in which he places a Inishel or so of luits, pouring 

 enough boiling water in to come 1 or 2 inches above the nuts. Then, 

 by stirring vigorously with a stick, the weevilh' nuts will come to the 

 surface in the same manner as do peas and beans affected ))}' pea and 

 bean weevils. The infested nuts are then skinnued off, and can be 

 destroyed or fed to hogs nv ith profit and safety, provided the animals 

 do not have a too exclusive diet of this form of food. * About five 

 mi mites in the water is a sufficient length of time. Some growers 

 claim that salt water is prefera])le, the brine serving to keep the shell 

 soft and pliable and the kernels more palatable than when not thus 

 treated. « 



Dift'erent methods are employed in drying. A good way is to place 

 the nuts in the sun and agitate them occasionally by stirring or shaking 

 in a bag until thoroughly dry, because if moisture remains unevapo- 

 rated it is apt to form mildew when the nuts are packed for shipment 

 prematurely. 



It should be unnecessary to state that nuts desired for planting 

 should not be scalded, and care should be also taken not to cook the 

 kernels which are desired for market. Some nut growers claim that 

 the hot-water treatment is objectionable because the nut shells lose a 

 certain degree of polish, rendering them less desirable for market. 



Some growers of chestnuts destroy the weevils b}^ kiln drying. 



Heat. — Infested nuts can be subjected to a temperature of between 

 125° and 160° F. without injuring them for food or for seed, and this 

 will effect the destruction of the larvw within. 



Cold dorage. — Cold storage has l^een employed and is successfid in 

 arresting the development of the larvaB. The appearance of the nuts 

 is scarcely different from those not so stored, but the nuts thus treated, 

 after becoming dry, are deficient in flavor, having, in the author's 

 opinion, a slightly acrid and moldy taste. 



a Note the writer's observations on this head on pp. 33 and 34, 



