MIU,S AND OTHER BUILDINGS 155 



when inhaled lessens the possibility of accident, and 

 (10) it affords insurance companies and others all the 

 protection possible under such conditions. 



First use of hydrocyanic acid gas in mills, etc. The 

 use of hydrocyanic acid gas for the distraction 

 of insects in mills, elevators and other large enclosures 

 where grain is stored and manufactured was first 

 suggested by the writer in an article in the American 

 Miller for March, 1898. Up to that time, we believe, 

 no attempt had been made to fumigate large buildings 

 with this gas for the destruction of vermin. In this 

 article attention was called to a large mill in North 

 Carolina, overrun with cockroaches, and the following 

 statement was made : ' ' We are going to try a new 

 remedy. It has never been used, to my knowledge, for 

 destroying insects in mills. It is simple and easy to 

 apply, but a very dangerous and deadly poison, and 

 must, like dynamite, gunpowder, kerosene, or carbon 

 bisulphide, be handled cautiously and by expert 

 hands. Our new remedy is hydrocyanic acid gas, one 

 of the most deadly poisons known. I have used this 

 gas in my experimental work the past two years 

 for killing insects upon young fruit trees, nursery 

 stock and in bearing orchards, and in buildings for 

 destroying rats, with marked success. I will now 

 apply it to the modern mill and storehouse, and my 

 candid belief is that it will be one of the coming 

 remedies for all vermin, including rats and mice, within 

 such enclosures. ' ' 



The opportunity did not offer itself at the time for 

 the experiment and we were obliged to let the matter 

 drop. The spring of 1899, however, offered us a 



