The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1881-07-16
The @armer,
THE GRAIN WEEVILS.

mllLefS anu uedIerS III INC CeIedlS HUN tHC
depredations of insects which infest stored
grain have not heretofore been Of a very
serious nature, but within the past ten
years these pests have multiplied SO rapid
ly that some method must soon be adopted
to check their increase, or European cOun-
tries will refuse to admit to their ports that
which they now so readily welcome. The
closing Of European markets to American
grain would certainly be great loss to our
farmers, but even this would not be so
serious matter as the destruction Of that
retained for home use. We are not say
ing this to unnecessarily alarm farmers
and dealers in grain, but the facts in re-
gard to the increase Of grain weeVils in all
parts Of the country are too overwhelming
to be passed over in silence.
The greatest grain pest in the Northern
States is the imported grain weeyil CO..
landra granaria). Just when or how it
was introduced is now unknown, but it Is
only within the past few years that it has
become sufficiently abundant to attract any
considerable attention. 1t is small snout
beetle, belonging to the same family as the
plum and apple curculio, but instead Of at
lacking fruit, it breeds in and lives upon
stored grain: preferIing wheat, although it
will not refuse oats, barley, or sorghum; in
fact, it is u general grain pest. 1t is about
one-eighth Of an inch long and quite sien.
der, with a snout slightly bent downward
and coarsoly punctured and very long
thoraX, constituting nearly half the
length of the whole body. Its wing COW
crs are furrowed, and covered with very
minute punctures. The color is a pitchy
red, but sometimes nearly black. This
little beetle, both in its perfect and grub
state, devourS wheat and other stored grain,
and its powers Of duplication are so
great that single pair, if left undisturb-
ed, may produce more than G,00O dcsccn-
dants in year. The female deposits her
eggs upon the grain after it is placed in
the barn or granary, and these eggs soon
hatch; the young grubs bore into the grain,
eating out the substance, and leaving
nothing bat the hull. When once started
in their work Of destruction, they continue
at it as long as there is a sound grain to
feed upon, unless disturbed, and then hun
drcds and even millions will crawl away
and hide in the cracks about the barn, or
wherever 4 safe retreat can be found. Of
course, wheat or other grain infested by
these beetles can be sent to the mill and
ground but to think Of feeding out such
product to animals is not agreeable
Besides, it is not always Il safe food.
Flour made Of bectle-iniested grain is
certainly unhealthy, if not always actually
poisonous. The wing cases and shell Of
these grain wcevils contain the same me-
dicinal properties as the caHiharidcS, or
Spanish fly; and although in grinding the
grain and passing the flour through the
boiling cloth, the larger part Of these shells
would 90 into the bran, still the smaller
PARTICLES must pass into the flour, and there
become dangerous clement. Not long
since, a correspondent in Ohio sent US Il
few beetles, saying that his wheat in the
granary was alive with them, and as the
specimens were badly crushed in the mails
we requested few more in order to be
certain in regard to the species. lie re-
sponded with a large tin box, holding at
least pint, filled with this European
grain weevil, and in his note accompany
ing them he said Il can send you
bushel of the same kind fyou want them.
Hone farmer could gather bushcl of these
weeyils in his barn, it is very certain that
there are more of the same kind elsewhere
in Ohio. In fact, it has been known for
some years that this insect was on the in.
crease in all parts Of the conntry, but very
little has been said about it, perhaps for
fear Of injuring the sale Of grain, or Of the
land where it was most abundant.
In the Middle and Southern States a
closely allied species, known as the rice
weevil (calaRdra oryz@), abounds almost
everywhere, attacking wheat rice oats,
Indian corn, and even the seeds of some Of
the wild grasses. 1t differs somewhat from
the European grain weevil, being Of much
darker color, and there are two red spots
on each wing cover. In the South it is
called the ''black weeviI,' to distinguish it
from the red weevil, an insect belonging to
Il different genus, which also attacks grain
in the field as well as when stored in gra-
naries. This rice wcevil has now become
so common at the South that keeping grain
Of almost any kind is becoming very diff
cult. These insects are so small that they
readily find access to the grain when stored
in ordinary granaries, no matter how care
full the farmer may be in his attempts to
keep them out. If the grain is left in
bundles stacked in the field or stored in
the barn, the wecvils soon find it and COM
mence their work Of destruction; and when
they have once found Judgement on a
farm, it becomes a difficult matter to get
rid Of them.
Kiln drying will destroy both the grubs
in the grain as we'll as the eggs and beet
les, and there are few farmers who can af-
ford to do this, and heating grain to a
temperature required for destroying the
wcevils would be likely to destroy its vi
tality; consequently this process will only
answer for that which is to be ground up
or fed to stock. Scattering dry lime
among grain is said to be good proven
tive, and if the grain is kept quite dry it
would not be injurious, because, by run
ming the grain again through tanning
mill, the lime could be readily removed.
In cool climates there is less difficulty in
keeping out wcevils, for if the grain is
threshed early and stored in a cool place,
where it can be thrown over or moved from
one bin to another every three or four
weeks, the weevils will make little progress.
Grain to be kept for seed may be placed
in tight barrels and sprinkled with bcnzine
or some similar insecticide.
The rice and imported grain weevils are
not the only kinds which injurc grain, for
there are several species known under the
common name of fred weeVil, which not
only attack wheat and other kinds of grain,
but infest bran shorts and meal, and will
even subsist on grass seeds. The most
abundant of these weeyils is the one known
to entomologists as ,Sitrdnus Surinanacn-
e;;e so named by Linnaus, because it was