494 MAIZE 



CHAP, aspirator. The term "country damage" is applied to such 

 * ' grain, in the English corn trade, in contradistinction to 

 damage in storage or transit. 



»s 



Pests of Stored Grain. 



Lay up for yourselves treasures . . . where neither moth nor rust doth 

 corrupt. — Matthew VI. 20. 



464. Losses Accruing from Storage of Grain. — If maize is 

 stored for any length of time, it is subject to injury from the 

 ravages of weevils and other insects, and of rats and mice. 

 Loss of weight and depreciation in quality result. Rats and 

 mice occur all over the country, but weevils are most trouble- 

 some at altitudes below 4,500 feet: the High-veld is therefore 

 more suitable for the winter storing of maize prior to export, 

 than localities at lower altitudes. 



465. Insects Injurious to Stored Grain. — The principal 

 insects which are injurious to stored grain in South Africa 

 are the lame of (1) the angoumois grain-moth {Gelechia 

 cerealelia) ; (2) the granary weevil {Calandra granaria) and 

 the rice weevil {Calandra Oryzte). 



As there is much confusion in the minds of merchants and 

 others who handle and store grain, as to the way in which 

 these insects live and propagate their kind, and as this ignor- 

 ance of the actual facts makes it more difficult to combat the 

 pest, a brief account of their life-history is here given. These 

 insects either destroy, or greatly impair, the vitality of the 

 grain. Trucks, stores and ships become infested with the 

 adult insects, and whole consignments of sound grain may 

 thus become infected in transit. 



466. Weevils. — The popular idea with regard to weevils 

 {Calandra granaria and C. Oryzcc) is conveyed in the ex- 

 pression often heard, that " Weevils come out of the grain but 

 don't go into it ". Like many untrained observers, those who 

 make this statement utter a half-truth, the knowledge of which 

 is perhaps more dangerous than total ignorance of the subject. 

 It is true that the weevil does not enter the grain in the 

 same form as the mature insect which the merchant finds 

 emerging from it in his store, or crawling over his bags of 

 grain. But it is equally true that the weevil could not 

 come out of the grain unless it had first gone into it ! How 



