WHEAT, WEEVILS AND BULK-HANDLING. 
weevils had made their appearance would need to be kept in the 
air-tight silo before the pests could be regarded as effectually disposed of. 
A side-issue of considerable importance that has to be kept in view 
in determining the details of this course of treatment, is that special 
caution would have to be exercised in the case of grain that might 
come to be used as seed.* If the period during which wheat is kept in 
an air-tight receptacle be prolonged beyond a certain point, not only 
is all insect life destroyed, but the vitality of the wheat itself becomes 
imperilled; or, in more precise terms, its germinating capacity may be 
interfered with—may be, to all intents and purposes, destroyed. The 
degree of carbonic acid pressure, and the length of time necessary to 
bring about this result, are only ascertainable by large scale experi- 
ments, which have yet to be undertaken. But the data available are 
sufficient to point to the conclusion that wheat which may have to be 
used for seed purposes should not be kept in air-tight receptacles for 
any considerable period. 
T have pleasure in acknowledging the assistance which I heave received 
in compiling the foregoing statement from my colleagues of the Grain 
Pests Committee—Messrs. Leo. Rossell, W. W. Frogatt, and F. B. 
Guthrie. 
* Seed-wheat, reserved as such by the farmer, would not normally come under the silo system at 
all. But in times of scarcity advances of wheat for seed have often to be made, and it is to potential 
seed-wheat in this sense that reference is here made, 
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307 
