202 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



shown a divided-blast smoker. "Bingham," 

 said he, "why didn't you run that blast- 

 tube into the stove ? " I told him that the 

 cut-off was Bingham's invention and it en- 

 abled the smoker to respond to the slightest 

 movement of the bellows and to burn any 

 kind of fuel without blazing, and that it had 

 blast enough for all practical purposes. 



It is here that long, straight, perfectly dry, 

 coal producing wood demonstrates the prin- 

 ciple. The interstices between long, straight 

 sticks set up in the stove and nozzle afford 

 numerous and unobstructed chimneys for the 

 natural draft and the blast of the bellows. 

 No one can fail to realize that with such 

 fuel the most delicate manipulation of the 

 bellows delivers a gentle, continous stream 

 of hot, strong smoke — without creosote — 

 soothing and effective. With smokers that 

 can make smoke out of everything, the fuel 

 problem is settled by the ease by which it 

 can be obtained. 



Abkonia, Mich. July 25, 1892. 



Why Hard Wood Fuel is best — A Proper 



Arrangement of Parts Banishes 



Screens and Valves. 



A. G. HILL. 



mHIS subject of 

 iJ " Smoke and 



r"^W» Smokers" is of no 



small importance. 

 :- Everyone who 



opens a hive of 

 bees, or does any 

 manipulating with 

 them at all, must 

 use smoke. It is 

 possible to do with- 

 out a veil to pro- 

 tect the face, but we know of no one who can 

 handle bees without smoke; and so when we 

 think of the large number of bee-keepers, 

 the smoker and fuel loom up in importance. 

 So little fuel is needed that it seems non- 

 sense to use any but the best. Hard wood, 

 beach and maple chips, or small blocks, tine 

 chips gathered from the wood yard, and 

 beech and maple bark do very well. Such 

 fuel makes less creosote to adhere to the top 

 of the smoker than soft or rotten wood, or 

 shavings. A smoker, to burn hard wood, 

 does not need to be large (perhaps one-half 

 he size of a smoker for soft fuel) to furnish 



all the fire for smoke that would ever be 

 necessary. 



Straw burning thresher engines are quite 

 a success out on the western prairies where 

 there is no wood, but in a wood or coal coun- 

 try they would be entirely out of place and 

 market. The large clumsy lire box and the 

 labor of feeding to keep up steam would 

 preclude their use in a country supplied 

 with more solid and natural heating material. 

 The same would be true in regard to smok- 

 ers. We would hardly expect a smoker 

 adapted to the use of rotten wood or shav- 

 ings to stand preferred and out-sell one that 

 would make a more lasting fire and be less 

 troublesome in burning clean and more 

 durable fuel. 



The t(se of things determines their useful- 

 ness and inconveniences or faults, and it 

 is only when a utensil, appliance, or a 

 machine is but to practical business that its 

 nice adaptation or fitness to its purpose are 

 apparent ; or that a ready and keen mechani- 

 cal sense, through some necessary bungling 

 movements of the hand, or unexpected 

 hinderance to quickly accomplish, discovers 

 the defects and discrepancies in details and 

 particulars. This bungling and clumsiness 

 in working we all have to endure more or 

 less and it is as often inherent in the means 

 of doing things as in ourselves. We are all 

 susceptible to harmony and unity of action 

 and especially do we need it in the machine- 

 ry that accomplishes our work. It is prog- 

 ress and the world' demands it. 



Using the different smokers in the market, 

 each gave evidence of faults which, in the 

 aggregate, were many, viz., difficult to start 

 fire in ; not convenient to take hold of ; awk- 

 ward position or hard to hold and work; 

 doesn't hold fire ; not convenient to put in 

 fresh fuel : ashes and sparks blow out with 

 the smoke soiling the sections of honey ; 

 bellows draws in smoke etc., etc. Some bee- 

 keepers think they prefer the thick, dense 

 smoke from soft wood, but actual test proves 

 that the clearer smoke from hard wood is 

 just as effectual, besides having the advan- 

 tage of cleanliness. 



To overcome these diSiculties I have ex- 

 perimented yearly for a number of years. 

 Not getting satisfactory results, I gave up 

 discouraged a number of times. ( )f course, 

 pecuniary loss attended all such experiment 

 and trial. After spending hours, and days, 

 and months in thinking and dreaming of 

 smokers, the idea finally came to me to re- 



