The RURAL NEW- WORKER 
1495 
Questions About Insects 
Conducted by Prof. Glenn W. Herrick 
The Angoumois Grain Moth in Wheat 
We have a poor stand of wheat on ac¬ 
count of a very dry Fall. The wheat 
moth does a lot of damage in our dis¬ 
trict, and we are trying to iind the best 
way to handle the wheat to prevent the 
great loss. The general custom of farm¬ 
ers in our section is to cut and shock the 
wheat ; as soou as it is dry it is taken to 
the barns and set or laid in the mow to 
wait for the thrasher. The last two years 
the moth has almost ehauged the old cus¬ 
tom. and we most thrash as soon as pos¬ 
sible to prevent the great loss. We have 
found by experience that wheal thrashed 
in July or early August will not he eaten 
or spoiled by tbp moth. At this early 
time for thrashing the wheat is not dry 
enough to store, and is sold to the mill 
or snippers, who pay their own low price 
to the farmers. What we need is a drier. 
Do you know of a wheat drier? At what 
The Anpou mois it min Moth 
degree Fahrenheit will the wheat moth 
be killed? A shipper of wheat spent 
$2,000 for shipping, drying and storing 
wheat in 11*21. and gained $30,000. The 
Farm Bureau's figures told the farmers 
they had a cash loss of 20 cents on every 
60 ll>s. of wheat sold at 90 ceuts. 
Lebanon. Pa. u.i.. h. 
The Angoumois wheat moth, of whose 
ravages II. L. B. speaks, came into this 
country from Europe at least 200 \ ears 
ago. and has gradually spread over rlie 
southern part of the United States, 
where it has been a serious pest to stored 
grains, wheat, corn, barley, rye, etc., for 
many years. In our more Northern 
States, with their longer and colder Win¬ 
ters. it has not been nearly so destruc¬ 
tive. On the other hand, within the last 
few years the insect has increased alarm¬ 
ingly and become very injurious to wheat 
in Southeastern Pennsylvania from Get¬ 
tysburg eastward and northward to Har¬ 
risburg at least. In order to understand 
the best methods of controlling the rav¬ 
ages of this wheat pest its life history 
should be known. 
Life History. —The parent insect is 
a tiny shining grayish-brown moth or 
miller only a little larger than the well- 
known clothes moths. These small moths 
in the Spring lay their tiny reddish eggs 
on the kernels of wheat in the field, and 
later on the wheat in the barn and gran¬ 
ary. Each egg hatches in about a week 
into a very small white caterpillar that 
gnaws its way through the outer coat of 
the grain and lives inside of the kernel, 
eventually devouring nearly all of the 
contents of the grain. The caterpillar 
takes from three to four weeks iu warm 
weather to complete its growth in stored 
wheat, when it changes t<> a quiet body 
known as a pupa, wrapped in a silken 
cocoon inside of the grain. A few days 
later the moths emerge from the cocoons 
ami prepare to deposit eggs for another 
generation. There are three partial gen¬ 
erations iu the field, the caterpillars of 
the last generation living over the Win¬ 
ter inside of grains of wheat. In warm 
granaries the insect will go on multiply¬ 
ing and devastating the stored grain all 
Winter. 
Two Important Points. —There are 
two important points to be noted in this 
life history: (11 The insect lives oimr 
the Winter as a small caterpillar inside 
of the grains of client, remaining in the 
i 'racks unit crevices of motes, on the 
beams about tin motes, under straw piles 
ami in crack * and ere rices of the bins 
where the grain was stored in the Fall. 
It is from these infested (trains in barns 
and primaries that the first moths come 
the ut'Ti Sprint) iu late May and early 
June. (2) The mollis coining from the 
barn and granaries in the Spring reinfest 
the V'liole farm by laying eggs on the 
wheat in the field, where a generation is 
produced in time for the moths coming 
from it to lay hundreds of eggs oil the 
grain soon after it is harvested and 
stored in the mow. Among the wheat 
lying ill the barn the insect increases 
enormously and causes math dam ape. 
Two Things That Shot i d Be Dunk. 
—In a further study of this life history 
it is perfectly evident that there are two 
things nt least that may be done to check 
the ravages of the insect: (11 Every 
one of the stray grains of wheat lying 
about the mows in the barn and the bins 
in the granary should be carefully swept 
up ami fed to chickens, or ground up into 
feed or burned, in order to destroy every 
caterpillar that is trying to UVe over the 
Winter. (2) All of the grain should be 
thrashed as soon as possible after har¬ 
vest and stored in tight Lins, preferably 
in a granary separate from the barn. 
Even when these precautions have been 
taken the Stored grain, if kept long in 
the granary during a warm Fall, may be 
attacked and seriously injured. There 
are two ways of avoiding this loss: (1) 
B.v selling the wheat at once: (2) by 
fumigating it with carbon bisulphide. In 
selling the wheat, as 11. L. B. says, one 
is mostly at the mercy of the buyer and 
literally has to accept his price. But 
unless one fumigates the wheal the 
chances are that he will really make 
money by selling at once, because the 
moth will damage the grain seriously in 
a comparatively short time. If the wheat 
is held in the bins it may be fumigated 
with carbon bisulphide. In using this 
material the owner should consult his 
State entomologist for information re¬ 
garding the amount to use and the 
method of application. Carbon bisul¬ 
phide is inflammable and explosive and 
must be used with great care. 
Heat as a Kidding Agent. —There 
remains thp possibility of beat for de¬ 
stroying the caterpillars that may infest 
the grain after the wheat has been 
thrashed. A temperature of 125 to 1*10 
degrees Fahrenheit will kill all stages of 
the grain tnoth. These are not high tem¬ 
peratures, and can be easily reached and 
maintained in a closed building if steam 
pressure is available. Heat is a safe, 
clean and sure ageut for the destruction 
of stored grain insects, but I am doubtful 
if an individual farmer will find it feas¬ 
ible to treat bis grain with beat. I do 
not know of any outfit for this pu-pose 
which he can buy. and I do not know of 
any economical way by which the indi¬ 
vidual farmer can produce enough heat 
to treat a considerable quantity of grain. 
It docs seem, however, as though a com¬ 
munity might co-operate and build a 
house perhaps in connection with a local 
creamery, where steam could be used 
from the plant already in existence, or 
iu connection with some factory or mill 
which has a steam plant that is not in 
use during the night. To such a place 
each grower might bring his wheat iu 
sacks and have it heated during the night. 
In most eases the heat would have to be 
maintained several hours iu order for it 
to penetrate all through the sacks. To 
facilitate the penetration- of the Jieat the 
sacks might best be piled in layers on 
slat-like floors, one above another, with 
spaces of 1 or 5 iu. between. There is 
nothing like such a plant in existence, so 
far as I know, and probably no such 
practice among grain growers has ever 
been followed, and there is no experience 
known to me on which to base definite 
information. Probably such a scheme 
would be impracticable in actual prac¬ 
tice. The real solution of the storage of 
the wheat and its protection from insect 
injury would be the formation of a co¬ 
operative storage and marketing associa¬ 
tion. Then a storage house with heating 
facilities could be built in which the 
wheat in a community could be safely 
stored and held until the market and 
price became favorable for selling. Fruit¬ 
growers are associating themselves to¬ 
gether for the storage and marketing of 
their products in a successful way, and 
it looks as though farmers in all phases 
of agriculture would be driven to a simi¬ 
lar line of action in self-defense. 
GT.ENN W. HERRICK. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK 
DOMESTIC,—Arguments in the ap¬ 
peal of Thomas Hannnerschmidt. former 
Socialist-candidate for mayor of Cincin¬ 
nati; I.ottu Burke and 10 others, who 
wore convicted iu 191S of Conspiracy in 
connection with the distribution of 
pamphlets prior to registration for the 
draft in June. 1917. were scheduled to be¬ 
gin in United States Court of Appeals at 
Cincinnati. O.. Dec. 7. The defendants 
were originally charged with treason. 
When the indictments were returned the 
charges were changed to conspiracy. 
1 Inmmerschmiilt and Miss Burke were 
sentenced to serve 15 months in the At¬ 
lanta penitentiary, while the other 10 re¬ 
ceived sentences ranging from a few 
months iu jail to a year and a day in the 
Federal penitentiary. No part of the 
sentences have been served by the de¬ 
fendants, all of whom furnished bonds 
pending appeal. 
Wage increases totalling $1,800,000 
annually for 30.000 maintenance of way 
employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad 
system have been granted. John G. Rod¬ 
gers, vice-president of the northwestern 
region of the Pennsylvania announced at 
Chicago Dec. 7. The increases ranged 
from lc an hour for carpenters', painters’ 
and masons' helpers, to 5c an hour for 
assistant bridge and building foremen, 
and will be retroactive to November 1. 
The adjustment was received after a 
series of conferences between the general 
roatiagers of the four regions of the road 
and the Pennsylvania System Fraternity, 
a company organization. The Pennsyl¬ 
vania refused to settle with the federated 
shoperafts when their recent strike was 
terminated on some roads. Instead it 
organized its employees into a company 
union. Thp employees then elected rep¬ 
resentatives to negotiate all differences 
with the management. 
The business district of Astoria, the 
oldest city in < Iregou. is in ruins, two are 
dead, hundreds of persons are homeless 
and property loss estimated at $15,000,000. 
are reported as the result of a fire Decem¬ 
ber S. Banks, newspaper plants, hotels, 
stores, theatres, and numerous buildings 
housing a variety of business places were 
destroyed. According to Fire Chief E. B. 
Foster, the fire got out of control because 
it burned thp piling beneath the buildings 
upon which the business section of the 
city was built. lie attributed the disas¬ 
ter to failure to fill in the space beneath 
the piling. 
John Wnnamaker. the famous mer¬ 
chant. died in his home at Philadelphia. 
Pa.. December 12. aged 84. 
Mrs. Charlotte McGowan, who lived 
with her three children at 241 East 24th 
Street. New York, slipped out of the 
house December 12 to do a little Christ¬ 
mas shopping. 8he returned less than an 
hour later to find her home in flames and 
on the floor of the parlor the burned and 
suffocated bodies of her babies. All three 
children died a half hour later at Belle¬ 
vue Hospital. The children were Joseph. 
Jr., five years old; Rose, three, and 
Moth on Corn 
Anna, the seven-mouths’-old baby. When 
Mrs. McGowan left the house Anna was 
in her baby carriage in the kitchen and 
the other two were with her there. In 
the bedroom, which is a middle room and 
poorly lighted, the mother left the gas 
jet burning, confident that it was beyond 
the reach of the children. Exactly what 
happened no one now alive knows, but it 
is supposed I he little boy reached up to 
the gas jet. and set his clothing on fire. 
THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE — 
The President's message to Congress De¬ 
cember S contained the following main 
ions; lb" 
mends substitution of a labor division in 
the Interstate Commerce Commission for 
the Railroad Labor Board. Merger of 
railway lines into systems and an inter¬ 
change of freight cars. Says progress in 
reconstruction has been hindered by the 
insistence of labor on war heights, while 
the heedless forces of reaction sought pre- 
Urges registration of aliens 
and the netting up of boards abroad for 
the examination of emigrants so as to 
make sure that only desirable persons 
enter the country. Favors a division in 
the Federal Land Banks to deal with pro¬ 
duction credits, with special provision 
for live stock production credits. Pur¬ 
poses to invite Governors of the States 
to a cotiferem-e on prohibition enforce¬ 
ment. Says we should rejoice to rehabili¬ 
tate currency systems, bur should not be 
dragged to the levels <>f those we seek to 
lift up. Recommends submission of an 
amendment on the question of child labor. 
Renews recommendation to restrict the 
issuance of tax exempt securities. Sug¬ 
gests co-operative buying as a means of 
lowering the exist of living. Favors ap¬ 
proval by Congress of proposed survey 
for a plan to draft all resources, human 
and material, for national defense. Says 
four Power treaty, abolishing probability 
of war in (lie Pacific, has brought new 
confidence in a maintained peace. 
WASHINGTON. -The annual report 
of tin; Panama Railroad Company for the 
last fiscal year shows that the War De¬ 
partment's efforts at commercial steamship 
operation have not been more financially 
successful than those of the Shipping 
Board. Despite the laying up of several 
ships and other measures of economy, 
gross expenses exceeded gross revenue by 
$587,332. Protests have been made from 
time to time to the 'War Department by 
private steamship linos against the con¬ 
tinuation of the Panama Line services, 
which were described as unwarranted and 
subsidized competition. The private own¬ 
ers are now able to point to a second 
consecutive unprofitable year for the 
Panama service The deficit from steam¬ 
ship operations in 1921 was $700,810. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—An increase 
of $19,000,000 in the appropriation^ for 
the Department of Agriculture for the 
fiscal year beginning July 1. 1923. is pro¬ 
vided for in estimates submitted to Con¬ 
gress by the Bureau of the Budget De 
cemher 1. The appropriations total $81.- 
251.013. as compared with $62,412,036. 
provided for the current fiscal year. 
These estimates, however, cover only sal¬ 
aries and regular activities of the depart¬ 
ment, and do no! consider funds for 
Special activities or for deficiencies which 
may arise. Following the policy of the 
past few years, the department asks no 
money for free seed distribution for 
which, however. $360,000 a year has been 
appropriated by Congress annuallv since 
the war. 
At a conference of sonic 30 representa¬ 
tives of the Departments of Agriculture, 
Conservation. Forestry and Entomology 
of New York. New Jersey, rhe New Eng¬ 
land States, the United States and Can¬ 
ada, the European corn borer and gypsy 
moth problems were given special consid¬ 
eration. and two sets of resolutions were 
adopted regarding them. According to 
the first of those, it was the sense of the 
conference that it approve the efforts be¬ 
ing made to control the corn borer and 
express deep concern at the Increased 
seriousness of certain infestation; that it 
emphasize the need of practical methods 
or handling wuurl infe<tarit»ns in suburban 
and market garden areas; and that it be¬ 
lieves every reasonable effort should lie 
made to restrict the spread of the insect. 
vAith regard to rhe gypsy moth, the reso¬ 
lutions urged that, whereas it has been 
demonstrated that iu local infestations 
complete eradication may be possible and 
that over wide areas general control 
measures can reduce damage and injury, 
sufficient appropriations should be made 
by Federal and State governments to con¬ 
tinue and strengthen _ present control 
methods, to eradicate New Jersey infes¬ 
tations, to locate and destroy border in¬ 
festations and ro create a control zone 
1 probablv north from Long Island Sound 
through New York or New Engl a ml > for 
the purpose of definitely preventing the 
westward spread of the pest. 
The extinction of hunting as a legiti¬ 
mate sport within a few years unless 
there is rigid enforcement of the most 
stringent laws for the protection of wild 
life was predicted by Dr. William T. 
Hornaday. director of the New York 
Zoological Society, addressing the Amer¬ 
ican Game Protective Association which 
began its ninth national conference De¬ 
cember 11 at the Waldorf-Astoria, New 
York. The increase in the numbers of 
killers and killed, the enormous increase 
iu the number of hunters’ licenses issued 
by the 8rate, the increased facilities for 
killing, including the automobile. Dr. 
Hornaday said, was bringing many kinds 
of game to the point of extinction. Lead¬ 
ing sportsmen throughout the country 
who had the interest of rhe sport at 
heart were failing, lie said, to keep pace 
v elopmerus resulting from this 
increased destruction. Chairman Freder¬ 
ick C. Walcott of the Connecticut State 
Fish and Game 'Commission, adopted a 
resolution calling upon the House of Rep- 
rseentafives to pass the game refuge bill, 
already passed in the Senate, providing 
funds “for protecting the birds and pur¬ 
chasing feeding. breeding and resting 
places for them, and shooting grounds 
on which the man of ordinary means is 
free to go.” The resolution pointed out 
that Congress had never appropriated ad¬ 
equate stuns to pt 
and fulfill our obligations to Canada and 
that the remaining ducking areas in this 
country were being rapidly drained or 
purchased by wealthy shooting clubs, ro 
the exclusion of ’lie man of small means. 
Coming Farmers’ Meetings 
.Tan. 1-5. 1923—Boston Poultry Show, 
Boston. Mass. 
Jan. 1-6. 1923—Second annual show. 
Sussex County Poultry Association. New¬ 
ton. X. J. I[. D. Rodimer. secretary. 
Jau. 2-Feb. 23. 1923—Now York State 
School of Agriculture. Cobleskill, short 
course in agriculture and ice cream mak¬ 
ing. 
Jnn. 10-12, 1923—New York State 
Horticultural Society, Winter meeting. 
Exposition Park. Rochester. N. Y. 
Jan. 10-12, 1923— Maryland Horticul¬ 
tural Society and affiliated associations, 
annual meeting, Frederick. Md. 
•Tan. 16, 1923 — New York Holstein- 
Friesiau Association, annual meeting. 
Yates Hotel. Syracuse. N. Y. 
Jan. 16-10. 1923 — Farm Products 
Show. New Jersey Farmers’ Week. Sec¬ 
ond Regiment Armorv, Trenton. N. J. 
Jau. 16-20. 1923—Agricultural Week, 
New Jersey State Board of Agriculture. 
Trenton. N. J. 
Jan. 18-20, 1923—New Haven County 
Poultry Club. Inc., annual show. New 
Haven. Conn. Secretary, F A. Todd. 
301 Federal Building, New Haven. Conn. 
Jan. 23-27. 192.3—Connecticut Poultry 
Association, annual show, Hartford. 
Conn. 
Jau. 23-27, 1923—Connecticut Winter 
Fair and Agricultural Exposition. Hart¬ 
ford. Conn. 
Jan. 24-28. 1923 — Madison Square 
Garden Poultry Show. New York City. 
Feb. 21-23. 1923 — Eastern meeting. 
New York State Horticultural Society. 
Poughkeepsie, X. Y. 
The witness had made several doubtful 
statements, and the cross-examining law¬ 
yer was becoming exasperated. “You 
mean to tell me.” he said, “that you saw 
this happen in the dark, while you were 
half a mile away?” “Oh. yes.” replied 
the witness, cheerfully. T can see mil¬ 
lions of miles at night.” “Millions of 
miles? Come. now. that is too much.’’ 
“Well.” said the witness, “what about the 
stars?"—Credit Lost. 
Iforfr of Grain 
