LIBRARY 

 rec.,-:tvei> 



c 



ircular No. 635 m8 - ,M2 



May 1942 • Washington,* tr~" * 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Control of Insects Attacking Stored Tobacco 

 and Tobacco Products 



By W. D. Reed, associate entomologist, and J. P. Vinzant, 1 junior entomologist, 

 Division of Truck Crop and Garden Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy and Plant Quarantine 2 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction 1 



Classes and types of tobacco 2 



History of stored-tobacco insects 2 



Losses resulting from insect infestation 4 



Insect pests of stored tobacco 4 



Cigarette beetle 4 



Stages of tbe beetle 4 



Seasonal occurrence 5 



Character of injury and food habits 6 



Tobacco moth 8 



Stages of the moth 8 



Seasonal occurrence 9 



Character of injury and food habits 11 



Unimportant species 11 



Natural enemies of stored-tobacco insects 12 



How insect infestations originate in tobacco 14 



Domestic flue-cured cigarette tobacco 14 



Imported cigarette tobaccos 15 



Cigar and snuff tobaccos. 15 



. Tobacco products 16 



Control of stored-tobacco insects "_ 17 



Control in open warehouses 17 



Insect traps 17 



Pyrethrum powder « 19 



Page 

 Control of stored-tobacco insects— Contd. 

 Control in open warehouses — Contd. 



Screening 22 



Control in closed warehouses 22 



Periodic fumigation 23 



Factors affecting control 26 



Control by chamber fumigation 27 



Atmospheric chambers 27 



Vacuum chambers 31 



Control in tobacco factories 33 



Statement of problem 



Elimination of insects in leaf tobacco. __ 

 Protection of factory against migrating 



insects 



Fumigation of tobacco products 



Heat treatment and cold storage 



Program of control 



Storages 



Vacuum chambers 



Atmospheric chambers 



Cost of control methods 



Safeguards to be employed in fumigat ion 



First aid for persons overcome from hydrocyanic 

 acid gas 



33 



INTRODUCTION 



A LARGE INDUSTRY concerned with the curing, fermentation, 

 •£*■ and manufacturing of tobacco has grown up in the United States. 

 This industry, in common with many others, is beset by insect ene- 

 mies which take a large toll each year. The principal pests of stored 

 tobacco are the tobacco moth (Ephestia elutella (Hbn.)) and the 

 cigarette beetle (Lasioderma serricome (F.)). It should not be in- 

 ferred, however, that tobacco products from the factories of American 

 manufacturers are likely to be insect-infested or that these products 

 were made from infested tobaccos. Precautions are taken at all times to 

 eliminate insects from tobacco warehouses and factories, and a constant 

 effort is being made by the industry to keep its stocks free of insects. 



1 Resigned September 15, 1940. 



3 The writers are indebted to E. M. Livingstone and A. W. Morrill, Jr., of the Bureau of 

 Entomology and Plant' Quarantine, for their assistance in working out some of the informa- 

 tion contained in this bulletin. 



422451°— 42 1 1 



