INSECTS INJURIOUS TO BEANS AND PEAS 283 



locality. Probably about six generations occur annually in the 

 District of Columbia, and a less number farther north. 



" Unlike the pea-weevil, a large number of individuals will 

 develop in a bean, as many as twenty-eight having been found 

 within a single seed. It will thus be readily seen that the first out- 

 door generation or any single indoor generation is capable of 

 exhausting seed and completely ruining it for food or planting or 

 any other practical purpose, except perhaps as hog feed." 



"The beetles begin to issue from beans in the field in a climate 

 like that of the District of Columbia ... as early as October, 

 when in the natural course of events the eggs for a. new brood 

 would be deposited in such pods as had cracked open, so as to 

 expose the seeds within." 



" Weevilly " seed should never be planted, as but a small per 

 cent of it will germinate and the vitality of that germinating is 

 deficient. Professor Popenoe showed in experiments at Manhattan, 

 Kan., that only 50 per cent of the infested seed used germinated, 

 that only 30 per cent could have grown further, and that even 

 these would have produced plants of little vigor or productive- 

 ness. (Quotations and facts from Chittenden, I.e.) 



Remedies. No methods are known of preventing injury in the 

 field, and all remedial measures must be applied to the insects in 

 the stored seed. As this species breeds in the stored seed, it is use- 

 less to hold it over as for the pea-weevil, and the quicker infested 

 seed is treated the better. Either heat, or better, fumigation, as 

 described for the pea-weevil, should be used. When ready to plant, 

 seed should be thrown lightly into water, when that badly infested 

 will float and can be separated and destroyed. 



Professor Geo. A. Dean, of the Kansas Experiment Station, 

 states that beans can be protected from injury and the weevils 

 in them killed, simply by storing them in air-slaked lime. The 

 lime is poured over the beans in the container and shaken down 

 until the beans are entirely covered. We have tested the method 

 and secured perfect results. This is by far the most convenient 

 method for handling small quantities of beans and peas, es- 

 pecially for those intended for seed. They should be kept in a 

 dry place. 



