GRAIN CONSERVATION 139 



doubt of the result of such experiments if the 

 proper conditions be observed, but I must once 

 more insist upon the necessity of scientific accuracy 

 in carrying them out. 



In the meantime it is satisfactory to be able to 

 state that in Australia, where the weevil problem 

 is now very serious, some of the investigators are 

 working along our lines and the value of air-tight 

 storage is beginning to be appreciated. We learn 

 from the Journal of the Department of Agriculture 

 of Victoria that a conference on the subject of the 

 weevil pest was held in Melbourne in October last, 

 under the presidency of Professor Orme Masson, 

 F.R.S., Deputy Chairman of the Commonwealth 

 Advisory Council of Science and Industry. Ex- 

 periments in sealing up weevily wheat in jars 

 had been made by Mr. Spafford, evidently very 

 similar to ours. Indeed, the Chairman called 

 attention to the fact that the results as to 

 the asphyxiation of weevils were in complete 

 accord with those obtained by myself in 

 England. 



As regards treatment of the wheat on a large 

 scale very important results were obtained with a 

 stack of 8500 bags of very weevily wheat, which was 

 covered with a material called malthoid to make 

 it as air-tight as possible, after which carbon dioxide 

 gas was pumped in. The result was regarded as 

 highly satisfactory, but of course it would have 



