The process of beating the pods to loosen and separate the beans is thus greatly facilitated.

It is then that the weevil, finding matters to suit her, commences to lay her eggs.
By storing his crop a little late the peasant stores the pest as well.
But the weevil more especially attacks the haricot when warehoused.

Like the Calander-beetle, which nibbles the wheat in our granaries but despises the cereal while still on the stalk, it abhors the bean while tender, and prefers to establish itself in the peace and darkness of the storehouse.

It is a formidable enemy to the merchant rather than to the peasant.
What a fury of destruction once the ravager is installed in the vegetable treasure-house! My bottles give abundant evidence of this.

One single haricot bean shelters a numerous family; often as many as twenty members.