SHUCK PROTECTION FOR EAR CORN". 13 



therefore, that the long shuck extension effected a saving of 19 per 

 cent in the field. This saving could not have been effected by earher 

 harvesting and fumigation, because the corn was taken from the field 

 as soon as it was sufficiently dry to permit storage. 



ADVANTAGES IN STORAGE. 



There is some confhct of opinion regarding the matter of storing 

 corn in the shuck. Some beheve that corn stored in the shuck is 

 more or less protected from weevils because of the shucks. Others 

 reason that these insects enter the shucks in the field and then, being 

 carried with the ears put in storage, they are able to continue their 

 work of destruction. They further reason that if the shucks were 

 removed in the field many of the insects would be left behind, and to 

 that extent the damage would be lessened. The facts presented on 

 the foregoing j^ages have shown that the right kind of shuck covering 

 is not entered by weevils, but that poor or defective shucks may be en- 

 tered. It is evident, therefore, that so far as weevil damage is con- 

 cerned, the advantage or. cUsadvantage of the method of storing corn 

 in the shuck is determined by the kind of shuck covering on the 

 corn stored. A certain number of ears in aU varieties are exposed in 

 the field. To store such ears in their shucks after the grain has become 

 infested is to make conchtions most favorable for the insects. To 

 shuck them in the field is to leave a part of the insects behind, but 

 as these ears stiU contain adults, larvas, and eggs, destruction will 

 continue, and they will remain a soiu-ce from which uninfested and 

 exposed corn may become infested. 



On the other hand, there are usually some ears in varieties 

 native to weevil-infested sections that because of their effective shuck 

 coverings do not become infested with weevils. To store such ears 

 in their unopened shucks is to afford them continued protection. To 

 shuck such ears is to expose them to the attacks of insects, including 

 the Angoumois grain moth, unless they are protected by other means. 

 The average farmer does not use other effective means of protection, 

 because they involve additional cost and, in the case of fumigation 

 with carbon bisulphid, extra fire risk. Shuck protection involves no 

 additional cost and no extra fire risk. It seems, therefore, that a 

 storage method that utihzes shuck protection will very greatly in- 

 crease the practice of holding and feeding corn on farms in weevil- 

 infested areas. Such a method is outhned as follows: Grow the best 

 shuck-protected corn, store the shuck-protected ears in their shucks, 

 and feed or seU the unprotected ears as early as possible. 



If there is a considerable percentage of unprotected ears, as is 

 always the case at present, and these ears are known to be infested, 

 they should be shucked as early as possible and kept away from 

 uninfested corn. The shucking should be done in such a way that 

 the dislodged insects may be swept together and burned. 



