INSECTS INJURIOUS TO STORED GRAINS 195 



Corn is frequently attacked, but not until it is ripe and husked, 

 and then but rarely when husked in October and November and 

 stored outdoors in slatted cribs. Seed-corn stored in barns, and 

 in the South in almost any situation, is often badly injured. 



Aside from the loss in weight, grain when badly infested 

 becomes unfit for milling purposes, and will even be refused by 

 cattle and horses, which should not be urged to eat it, though 

 hogs and fowls will readily consume it. 



Remedies. Dr. J. B. Smith, in an interesting bulletin upon 

 this pest, to which we are indebted for much of the above, advises 

 as follows: " Thresh as soon after harvest as possible, and bulk in 

 tight bins or in good sacks. [By " tight bins " are meant those 

 which will not permit the entrance or exit of the moths.] If the 

 grain is dry when harvested, it may be threshed at once; if not, as 

 soon as it is in good condition. If the sacked grain is infested, 

 there will not be wormy kernels sufficient to heat the grain. The 

 moths cannot make their way out and are stifled. Nothing can 

 come in from outside and the grain remains safe. The threshing 

 itself kills many of the insects and jars and rubs off many of the 

 eggs. If binned, the bins should be tight and the grain should be 

 tested occasionally for any appreciable heating. If it heats per- 

 ceptibly, it indicates considerable infestation, and it should be 

 treated with carbon bisulfide at once, used at the rate of one 

 drachm per cubic foot, or 1 pound for 250 cubic feet bin-space." 

 Recent investigations have shown that more bisulfide will often 

 be necessary. See page 198. 



Those having wheat unthreshed, whether in- stack or mow, 

 should thresh at once, and treat as above directed, except that if 

 much of it is noticed to be wormy, it should be treated with carbon 

 bisulfide at once, as soon as threshed, which if done thoroughly 

 will prevent any further infestation that year. 



Barns and storehouses should be cleaned up and freed from all 

 loose and scattered grain chickens will help in this before April 

 1st, so that no moths will be allowed to develop and infest the 

 grain in the field. Places where grain has been in shock the pre- 

 vious season should be cleaned up by the aid of chickens. Thus if 



