El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-02-25


been found whereby the DREADED
"cigaret beetle" which destroys some
thing like 100000 worth of cigars
cigarets and leaf tobacco every year IN
this country, can be wholly wiped out
and exterminated. The X-Ray does the
work.
The machine used for the purpose is
the invention Of a Philadelphia man.
It's thorough efficiency has already
been proved by practical tests, and
manufacturers of tobacco in various
forms are taking it up. Well they may,
indeed, inasmuch as it solves the most
important problem with which the To-
bacco trade has had to deal during
recent years.
Is Simple Apparatus.
The apparatus, which is very simple.
consists of a small sized tunnel or
sheet iron, only few feet long,
through which bales or other packages
of tobacco or cigars are carried on a
moving platform operated by an end
less chain. On either side Of the tun-
nel midway in its length, are placed
two large Crookes tubes, so that the
bundle or bale, as It passes between
them, is subjected to the action OF
powerful X-rays. If the package con-
tains any bugs they are killed with
deadly certainty and dispatch.
1t might be supposed that If tobacco
were infested by insects, nothing would
be easier than to destroy them. by fu-
migation or otherwise. AS a matter OF
fact, however. 1t has hitherto been
found impossible to deal effectlvely
with the cigaret beetle. Fumes Oh pl'
sulphate of carbon will destroy 1T. but
incidentally thes flavor OF the TOBACCO
is Injured The same thing, say the
. co. fc, frrIo M.
ermore, while the adult insects may De
killed with comparative ease, even
means so drastic as these have proved
unsuccessful in destroying their eggs.
Cold Storage Helps Little.
Manufacturers have been driven TO
resort to the expedient of keeping cl-
CARS and cigarets in cold storage thus
putting a stop to the breeding OF the
insects. So far, so good. But. when
the goods have been sold, and are ex-
posed in the showcases Of retailers, or
stacked on their shelves in rooms where
the temperature is reasonably high, the
eggs. which have been kept dormant
proceed to hatch, and presently the
cigar boxes and other packages are fun
Of beetle larvae.
The beetle grubs feed on cured tobac-
CO. They do not care whether 1t is in
the form of a cigar, cigaret or plug
cut" What they actually devour is OF
small consequences relatively speaking,
but they do an enormous amount of
harm by boring into and out of cigar
cts and cigars often the retail dealer
opens a box of fragrant weeds, only
to discover that half of them are per-
forated with little round holes
The customer, of course, does not
care for ''wormy" cigars Not only IS
their appearance unappetizing, but. by
reason of the perforations, they are IL
able to refuse to draw" Accordingly
there is nothing to be done but to re-
turn the box and its contents to the
manufactures, who suffers a loss in
reputation as we'll as in poc,set No
wonder. then, the makers of cigars and
cigaretss have eagerly sought means
whereby the abominable beetle might
be successfully fought.
X-Ray Does the Work.
J This seems to be furnished by the
| newly invented X-ray machine, which
destroys almost instantaneously not only
! the beetles. but also the grubs and the
unmatched eggs, without injury to the
| tobacco No chemicals and no heat.
The tobacco is passed through the tun-
| mel by the conveyor OF the rate or
! bale a minute. only two men being re-
| quired to run the apparatus 1t IS not
necessary even too remove the palm
leaf covers from the bales, inasmuch as
] the deadly rays are just as penetrating
! and effective when used upon the IN
broken packages. The machine, furth-
l ermore, is built to work on any current
/ and may even be attached to an ordi-
nary electric light burner, the voltage
| being stepped up" to the requisite
point by means of transformers.
One man stands at each end of the
machine, to put the bales into the tun-
mel and to take them out as they come
through The apparatus is all but auto
matte For use in small cigar factories
/ a little machine of the same kind has
! been built, by which tobacco in car
| rots" or even cigars and cigarets, may
! be exposed to the bugkilling treatment
/ without breaking the packages. The
rays work just as we'll through paper
] or wooden boxes.
| In his experimental tests, the invent
| or took beetle infested parcels OF to-
bacco and divided each of them into
| two equal. parts. One-half of each par
eel he put through the bug killing ma
chine; the other half he withheld from
| treatment Then he placed all the ma
! chine treated half parcels in one box
and all the untreated half parcels in
another box both boxes being ASept in
1 a warm room. Thus the conditions for
| the treated tobacco and that which had
not undergone treatment were exactly
/ the same.
| AS result, the eggs contained in the
untreated tobacco Matched out within
| ten days, and the box in which it had
| been placed was full of little worms.
| The treated tobacco. on the other hand
| remained exactly as it was, and not
| single grub made its appearance. Elk
! animation with a microscope showed
! the presence in it of many thousands
/ of unmatched beetle eggs. but no
amount Of warmth or patient nursing
| could bring them to life. The X-ray.
| in word. had utterly destroyed them.
Tobacco Easily Injured.
Many species of insects are injurious
to tobacco, but none of them approach
es in harmfulness the cigaret beetle,
| which lives in the tobacco during all
| the stages of it's existence. In a warm
| room it accomplishes its life round,
from egg to adult insect. in less than