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STORED=PRODUCT INSECT INVESTIGsTIONS 
Ee As Back, Scnior Mmtomologist, in Chargo 
Qn May 13 a delegation of dried fruit interests from New York were 
in conference with Walter G Campbell, Director of Regulatory work, on mate 
ters relating to.insect infestation in dricd figs. 
_ On May 14, D, K, Grady, Secretary of the Dried Fruit Association of 
California, with headquarters at San Francisco, was a caller at the Burcan, 
Re I. Cotton attended the fourtéenth spring mecting of the Amcrican 
pociety of Relrigcrating imgincers, hold at the Green Briar Hotcl, white 
Sulphur Springs, we Vacs May 23 to 25, at which he read a paper entitled 
“Effect of Cold Storage upon Clothes Moths," The Society had this paper re- 
printed for distribution among its members, that the discussion might be 
more general. 
at the request of the flax tow interests of the Northwest, a confer- 
ence was held in Washington, May 25, at which were discussed ways and means 
for determining the susceptibility to insect attack of various vegetable 
fibers currently used as upholstering materials, Certain furniture interests 
will assemble infested furniture from different parts of the country and give 
the Bureau an opportunity to make careful examinations at the cost of the 
flax tow interests, Strange to say, the lowly tobacco beetle is turning 
trade away from the flax industry. This accounts for the flax industry's very 
laudable determination to get the real facts, Palm fiber from africa, Span- 
“ish moss from the Gulf Coast, flax straw from the Northwest, sea moss from 
the Pacific Coast, curled hair from everywhere, and cotton, are all competing 
for the chance to make you comfortable when you sink into luxurious and ex- 
pensive furniture, 
The Reliable Insecticide Company, of Portland, Oreg., has an excel- 
lent new fumigating plant in which, during the May Convention of the State 
Coroners, held in that city, a demonstration of the usefulness of hydrocyanice 
acid gas was staged for the benefit of coroners not acquainted with the effect 
of this gas upon insects and warm-blooded animals, 
At the request of the american association of Ice and Refrigeration 
@ paper was prepared by BE. a. Back for presentation at its May 5 meeting, 
held at the willard Hotel, washington. The Bureau had been requested to dis- 
cuss the method of protecting furs and fabrics by tight storage and fumige- 
tion, as ovposed to the more expensive method of depending upon cold-storage 
temperatures. 
On May 23, J. C,. Hamlin, of the dried fruit insect investigations, 
submitted a detailed report on the condition of figs taken May 10 to ll from 
dried fruit warchouses at Fresno, Calif. This report indicated contamination 
by insects ranging from 29 per cent to 80 per cent of the fruits, with a 
total contamination due to insécts and diseased conditions ranging from 34 
per cent to 82 per cent. Of the fruits affected by insects 1% would appear 
that about 60, 20, 13,.and 7 per cent, respectively, were infested by the 
Indian meal moth, thesavtoothed grain beetle, a Habrobracon parasite of Flodia, 
and the dried-fruit beetle. About 60 per cent of the dried-fruit veetle con- 
