3 



In the meantime a proposal was made by Mr. Victor .Mossed to 

 fumigate the seed with hydrocyanic acid ga< /// rm-no. He also 

 elaborated an apparatus for recovering the gas after treatment, thus 

 reducing the danger of poisoning to a minimum. Laboratory experi- 

 ments to test the method had proved id. and as a very similar 

 method is used in America for fumigating steam -pressed cotton 

 bales, apparently with romplei' 3, it wai 'hat 

 the process would prove equally so ting col d on 

 the large scale. A full-sized apparatus was therefore ordered from 

 .Messrs. Sulzer Freres of \Vinterthur. Switzerland, lo Mr. Mosseri's 

 design. Dem oust rat ions of the process with a,n .e\ peril! Cental apparatus 

 \\ere made in May I!)!..") be fere 11.11. the SuHaii. and in June before 

 delegates from the Ministrv of Agriculture. The full-si:--.ed machine 

 was definitely ordered in S/ptember and was to have been )< 

 for use during December. Howeve,. owini: to various delays it 

 was not ready for trial till August ]!)!(. By that time practically 

 all the pink boll worms had left the pre\ i 

 could not be made until the new season's seed was available. 



During this delay, liov big advance had been mad' 



erection of a new type of hot-air machine as a, commercial enter]. 

 Hitherto all experimental machines had l>. led at Covernment 



; und the (iovenimcnt had borne all other expenses conn< - 

 with the experiments. In the latter half of ]!)]">. however. Me 

 Mosseri. Curiel & Co.. 7>f Cairo, brought from Kngland a malt-drying 

 machine of the type made by Me.-^rs. Richard Simon & Sons, of 

 Nottingham, and a<l-.ed the Ministry of Agriculture to test it- \\h 

 view to finding whether il could be utilized for treating cotton seed. 

 A preliminary i-rial was carried out during February J!)l(i. This 

 uas. however, of little, use owing to the absence of certain accessories. 

 Further Trials were carried out in April after tli more impor 

 defects had been remedied, the results beinir published in the Mini 

 of Agriculture's Bulletin No. II (Store mon'a Hot-air Mac 1 



for the Treatment of Cotton Sed against Pink Boll Worm"). 



This machine dilTered in principle from the pre\ -air 



hines that had been proposed, the seed being heated, not by 

 air, but by direct contact with steam-tubes. In fact the maehii 

 not really a " hot-air " machine at. all. The na.me has. hov, >me 



to be adopted for want of a. better, so it is idle to try to chang" it now. 



