1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



827 



BEST FUEIi FOR SMOKERS. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



fJiHE above may seem a pretty small subject for 

 an essay; but to the practical apiarist who is 

 — doing' business on a scale of any considerable 

 extent, the item of good fuel for his smoker is one 

 of the largest of the details of which the business is 

 composed. It is a matter of no very small import- 

 ance to (Ofiy (DJC who uses a smoker at all. 1 have 

 suffered much, even since smokers have been per- 

 fected, from the want of proper fuel. When, under 

 unfavorable circumstances, or when one is in a 

 hurry, and the bees need considerable subduing, to 

 stand and puff and puff and pulf, and see so little 

 smoke issue as to be only just discernible, or to go 

 to the other extreme, that is, pick up the smoker 

 and lind it out, are trials that it is worth many dol- 

 lars to avoid. Numerous are the substances highly 

 recommended as the "best fuel for smokers." 



TOBACCO 



was once the all in all. Experience has demon- 

 strated that the smoke from it puts too much spirit 

 into the bees, and is lialile to lead to habits that 

 take it out of the bee-master. That substance is al- 

 most abandoned, and wisely too. 



COTTON RACS 



were next recommended. They don't come into 

 general use, however. Speaking for myself, the 

 reason they do not Is because they do not make 

 enough smoke for many occasions. The smoke 

 they do make is villainous to both bees and man, 

 and is finally justly resented l)y both. They must 

 bo kept in a pretty dry atmosphere all the time, or 

 they readily absorb moisture enough to fail totally. 



PEET 



is preferred by some. This, I find, has two objec- 

 tions: It is quite inaccessible to many, and burns 

 out too fast. Many other things, such as corn-cobs, 

 buffalo-chips, and the like, have all been recom- 

 mended, and, so far as I have tried them or ex- 

 changed experiences with those who have, they have 

 been found to come under one or the other of the 

 above-named objections; viz., they make too little 

 smoke (going out oftentimes), or burn out too fast, 

 consuming too much of the apiarist's time in "firing 

 up" the tube. 



Mr. Bingham, I infer, has spent much time in ex- 

 perimenting with different substances for smoker 

 fuel, and has finally perfected his smoker so as to 

 burn 



SOUND WOOD. 



This sound dry hard wood has one splendid advan- 

 tage — it is easily obtained by all bee-keopers in all 

 localities. But upon testing its use, I found that it 

 had several serious disadvantages. It makes such 

 an intense heat that " fire-shields " are attached, 

 and this heat wears out the smoker rapidly. But 

 that is not the worst of it. It blows fire out of the 

 tube, increasing the danger of a "Are" of larger 

 and more disagreeable proportions, and abusing 

 the bees to such an extent that the heart and brain 

 of man go into partnership, and invent the 



COLD-BLAST SMOKER. 



Still another serious objection with the hard wood 

 Is that the intensity of heat generated by it causes 

 the condensation of creosote, which runs out all 

 over the flre-tube, dauliing and mussing up the 

 smoker, and ofttimes the operator. 



After experimenting- with all the various sub- 



stances mentioned above, together with many more, 

 as well as nearly all I have read about, I will tell 

 you 



WHAT I USE, 



and find to fill the bill exactly. 

 Perhaps it may be properly called 



PUNK. 



I know it has been so named by others] vvho have 

 used it and written about it. It is a peculiar dry rot, 

 collected in just a certain stage of decay. I have 

 found that from hard-maple we get the best. Touch 

 a match to a piece, and it will catch instantly; fill 

 the fire-barrel of the smoker, and your trouble from 

 unruly bees is soon at an end. It smokes in a vol- 

 ume that is unmistakable. The smoke is almost 

 odorless. It never gets too hot to haiidle the tube- 

 cover freely, whik; it subdues the bees instantly, and 

 leaves no irritating reaction upon them. Your 

 smoker does not die down nor go out while the fuel 

 lasts, which is from one to two hours. It l)urns 

 equally well in all sorts and sizes of smokers. Keep 

 it out of the rain, and dampness does not affect it. It 

 is not as readily found in woods where it might be 

 expected, as one would suppose. It exists only in 

 standhuj trCGS. It is usually a heart i-ot, and is al- 

 ways a dry rot, and no wet, moldy rotten wood is of 

 any account when artificially dried. It must be a 

 dry rot. 



About five years ago a woodman brought me a 

 cord of it, for which I paid twice the price of sound 

 maple (I mean, an 18-inch coi-d). Of course, I had to 

 slice and hew the good from the worthless portions, 

 which left about one-third real smoke wood. To- 

 ward the latter end of last season I ran out of it. 

 Then trouble began. Then I began to think of the 

 woodman. I saw him. He could find no more. I 

 accosted another expert woodman, and he found 

 me a quarter of a cord of the very best I ever saw. 

 I have it now in the attic of my honey-house at the 

 apiary. I think of it often through the days. If I 

 wake up in the night, I am sure to think of it. Real- 

 ly, I feel childish about it. I would refuse $35 .00 for 

 this a IS-inch cord, could I not replace it for less. I 

 have been thinking of those who have not access to 

 this material, and how I should have it boxed and 

 shipped to me by freight. "Well, I'm in such circum- 

 stances, and the thought has occurred to me that a 

 traffic in this material, while it might be the means 

 of giving such poor woodmen l.-abor wherein they 

 are their own proprietors, it would, at the same 

 time, threefold bless the purchasers. This man (an 

 honest and deserving one) says he would like the job 

 of hunting, securing, and culling this material at 

 such prices as would give $1.50 per day of 10 hours. 

 Then there would be the nominal cost of boxing and 

 shipping and freights, which would then, in my 

 judgment, make it the cheapest and best smoker 

 material known to bee-keepers. Of course, no one 

 can exactly estimate the cost per cubic foot at first; 

 yet the traffic, once started under the auspices of a 

 man of integrity, a proper price could soon be 

 adopted. Competition would soon select the fittest 

 to supply this boon to the apiarist. What do you 

 think of the idea? 



Dowagiac, Mich., June 5, 188-J. 



I think favorably of it, friend Heddon, and 

 I have already tried two or three times to 

 get a similar project started. My price was, 

 I believe, 10 cents for a peck basket full, 

 basket thrown in ; but I found great ditti- 

 culty in getting a sufficient supply of a real- 



