74 THE SEED-GROWER. 



growing seed within and there makes its home, living 

 and feeding, to become finally a pupa or a complete 

 bug. In this last form it remains dormant in the seed, 

 eventually to come out when the seed is sown; or as 

 often happens, it may emerge earlier, when the seed is 

 in the seed-bin or in the sack. By instinct the insect 

 avoids the germ, subsisting only on the material which 

 encloses the germ, that substance provided by nature as 

 food for the young plant until it can succor itself by 

 means of its roots. But sometimes the insect, when too 

 voracious, will consume too much of this plant-food 

 matter, and this then is the cause of some bug-eaten 

 peas not germinating. If they do sprout, then the young 

 plants frequently die from lack of sufficient nourishment. 



To insure protection from pea weevil, the seed-dealer 

 should dose his seed-peas with bisulphide of carbon as 

 soon as received in store. The manner in which to do 

 this is to place the bag or bags containing the peas in 

 an air-tight room or a close-covered bin, and leave them 

 exposed to the vapors of the bisulphide from twenty- 

 four to forty-eight hours, which will kill the dormant 

 bugs without injury to the seed. The same is also effec- 

 tive for killing bugs in beans, cow peas, and all other 

 seeds. 



The bisulphide of carbon is placed in a dish and set 

 on top of the bags containing the seed. It evaporates 

 rapidly, and the heavy vapors sink into the mass of the 

 seed and kill the bugs. If found necessary repeat the 

 operation several times during a season. In small quan- 

 tities, bisulphide of carbon costs 15 to 20 cents per 

 pound; one pound should treat 30 bushels of seed. The 

 liquid and the fumes are very inflammable and poison- 

 ous, and all fire should be kept away from it; for that 

 reason an unoccupied, air-tight room is to be preferred 



