7t>e See-Keepeps' JacViccu. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tl^e Iqterests of Hoqey Producers. 



$L00 A YEAR, 



W. Z. HOTCHINSOJM, Editor & Ppop. 



FLINT, MICHIGAN, JULY 10, 1892, 



VOL, V, 



NO. 7. 



The special topie of this issue is 



Smoke ar|d Snookers. 



That of the next issue tiiill be 



A Continuatiori of the Subject, 



Importance of a Good Smoker.— Some Criti- 

 cisms on the Bingham and how its Defects 

 Are Avoided by the Double - Valve. 





A /T < )RE progress 

 1*1 has been made 

 iu bee - keeping 

 during the past 

 fifty years than 

 during the previ- 

 ous five tliousand. 

 This has been 

 brought about 

 largely by a few 

 improvements 

 such as the mova- 

 ble comb hive, the 

 rapid dissemination of knowledge by bee 

 journals, the invention of the honey extract- 

 or, of comb foundation and of the bellows 

 smoker. I mention the smoker last, but do 

 not consider it the least of these improve- 

 ments. Whether we consider the ease and 

 comfort of handling the bees, or the saving 

 of time, a good smoker is one of the greatest 

 helps of modern bee culture. 



To the late Mose Quinby belongs the hon- 

 or of introducing the bellows smoker. I do 

 not know as I ever saw the first ones made. 

 Probably they were not equal to many styles 

 made at the present time, but to suggest and 

 prove the value of the production of smoke 

 by means of a small hand bellows, is honor 

 enough for one man, and ought to be appre- 

 ciated by every one who has blown smoke 

 fiom punk wood all day, until his lungs 

 seemed more like a bellows than anything 

 else, and eyes and head very unpleasant to 

 say the least. 



Smokers there were before the bellows 

 smoker was introduced. One I remember 

 that was for using tobacco, but I never used 

 it. I have an old smoker that was made 28 

 or more years ago. It is in the form of a 

 minature stove, with a tin tube to carry the 

 air from the mouth to the base of the smok- 

 er and another to convey the smoke from 

 the top of the smoker to the bees ; but it 

 was too clumsy to be of much value. 



Now we have a number of styles of smo- 

 kers, some of them very good, and others 

 less so. I have tested some of them. One 

 kind I remember that I paid a large price 

 for, only to see it fall to pieces in a short 

 time. Later, I bought a whole basketful of 

 another kind, they were so cheap and prom- 

 ising, but, after one season's use, they were 

 thrown aside in disgust. I have used other 

 kinds with more or less satisfactory or un- 

 satisfactory results. It is not difficult to 

 make a smoker that will work very well at 

 first, but to make one that will continue to 



