202 HOW TO GROW GOOD CORN. 



moth, probably the Butalis cerealella. It is easily 

 found in the chaff scales ; and during the summer of 

 1861 we saw as many as six in a single ear, and it 

 was, indeed, one of the causes of the bad yield of that 

 year. We know of no remedy for this evil; but, 

 perhaps, if we were better acquainted with the 

 habits of the moth itself, means might be devised 

 for taking it before the eggs are laid in the young ear 

 of corn. 



6. The Com or Granary Weevil (Calandra gra- 

 naria) and others. — These attack corn in store, and 

 probably differ in species according to the kind of 

 corn. This is a small beetle, the female of which 

 makes a hole in the grain and deposits an egg, which 

 soon hatches into the maggot ; this eats out the grain 

 with great assiduity until its partial period of rest in 

 the pupa state ; which passed, the beetle finishes the 

 work, and may frequently be found in the interior of 

 wheat. 



The usual structures of granaries and corn-stores 

 contribute to the increase of this pest, as they are 

 mostly dark and ill- ventilated chambers. The best 

 remedy is to expose the grain to the greatest possible 

 amount of cold, by spreading it on the floors in hard 

 frosts, and letting in light and air. Curtis quotes the 

 " Bulletin des Sciences Agriculture " for July, 1826, 

 for the following plan : — " Lay fleeces of wool, which 

 have not been scoured, on the grain ; the oily matter 

 attracts the insects amongst the wool, where they 

 soon die, from what cause is not exactly known. 

 M. B. G. Payrandeau related to the Philomatic So- 

 ciety of Paris that his father had made the discovery 

 in 1811, and had since practised it on a large scale." 



