528 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



The Novice smoker, on the score of simplicity, 

 was far ahead of any I had seen ; but its simplicity 

 in one feature (having no valve) was an element of 

 weakness ; as in supplying itself with air from a 

 point so near the fuel it inhaled smoke, which 

 caused an accumulation of soot in the bellows; and 

 during a long honey season of from 60 to 90 days, 

 in large, apiaries, it became disabled. The leather 

 Lecame black and hard, and it failed. 



Having tried modifications of nearly all the prin- 

 ciples claimed in other smokers with poor success, I 

 set myself to work to remedy what I considered the 

 defects of your smoker. 1. I put in my simplicity 

 valve; 2. Instead of blowing my fuel when it was 

 already burning fast enough, I concluded to blow 

 my blast up through the fuel in a solid tube, ending 

 far enough up in the spout (which I had added to 

 the top of your fuel-case) to create a vacuum, and 

 cause the smoke to rush in to fill this vacuum, and 

 in so doing to mix itself vrith the blast of cool air, 

 thus giving me a cold smoker. I then arranged a 

 damper so^ as to regulate the draft to suit my fuel, 

 and Corey's cold smoker was completed. 



We have made a very thorough test of this little 

 modification of your smoker, and found it satisfac- 

 tory ; and every beekeeper who has seen it and tried 

 it says Bingham's is "nowhere." This vacuum 

 principle is not any part of Bingham's blow-hard, 

 hot-blast, direct-draft principle, and you are at liber- 

 t.v to use my improvements to your heart's content, 

 without cost. I will mail you one as a sample, so 

 that you can readily get the principle; and if it can 

 be cheapened in any way, and not lose any of its 

 merits, you can modify it. JOHN G. COREY. 



Santa Paula, California, Jan. 12, 1879. 



P- S. — If this gets you out of the smoker difficul- 

 ty, I shall be fully rewarded. This offered relief 

 comes further than the $500 check did. 



One day later. — In my hurry to send you a smok- 

 er I was compelled to use borrowed tools, use a 

 piece of an old packing box for the boards, and put 

 in a poor squeaking spring; and then after boring 

 my outlet hole wrong, and various other mistakes 

 and blunders, I finally got it ready to send off. 

 Rough as it is, it will be a guide to you only as an 

 application of the vacuum principle as applied to 

 . smokers. 



I nailed it up without glue, so that you could eas- 

 ily pull It apart to see the valves. 



Calf skin is best for the valves; 1/2 -in. clout nails 

 for tastening and clinching the spout on. 



I use rags. Make a roll IVs in. in diame- 

 ter, and about 8 or 10 in. long, and coil it ,^ 

 around the pipe, so that the ends will not ^\ 

 meet, thus, when it will burn only on one %J 

 end and burn slowly. John G. Corey. 



You will notice that friend Corey refers 

 to the $500 in gold that came from Quebec. 

 The smoker that got me out of trouble came 

 from still further away. Perhaps I might 

 mention right here, that, a little later on, 

 Mr. Norman Clark, of Sterling, III, sent 

 me a sam]ile of what was called Clark's 

 cold-blast smoker,* which is the one our peo- 



* Below I also give friend Clark's letter that came 

 with the smoker. 



I received my Jan. Gleanings promptly on time, 

 and at once set myself down to read. Somehow I 

 get to "Our Homes" very soon, and before one quar- 

 ter of the book is read. When I read vour talk with 

 Bmgham, and your decision about the smoker, I 

 thought there might be some other plan of one that 

 would answer as well; very soon a plan came to me, 

 and I worked it out in its details. 



Now, I have your Feb. number of Gleanings, 

 and, lo and behold I you have the same principle 

 embodied in one from a friend in California- but I 

 have decided to send you the one I have made, and 

 perhaps there may be some features about it that 

 you may like even better than Corey's. 



It works beautifully; the draft of air across the 

 top of the fuel causes it to burn clear and slowly 

 and leaves very little creosote. I find that rags 

 burn, but perhaps V4 as fast as where the air is 

 forced up through the bottom. Its convenience as 

 a "breech loader" is an item in its favor, also that 



pie at the jsresent time now furnish at the 

 low price of 55 cents. The first year after 

 this cold-blast smoker was put on the mai-- 

 ket 20,000 of them were sold to the bee- 

 keepiers of our land. I wonder if it has oc- 

 curred to any of you that the cold-blast 

 smoker was on the Avay from California 

 before that little prayer, "Lord, help," was- 

 uttered in regard to the smoker question. 

 Many people have said to me, "Why, Mr. 

 Root, you are short-sighted, for the smoker 

 was on the waj', and it would have reached 

 you just the same if you had not prayed at 

 all." And right here just now comes in so 

 beautifully that promise in the last text I 

 have chosen — "Before they will call I will 

 answer; and while they yet speak I will 

 hear." Does it trouble you, my good 

 friends, to grasp the great truth that the 

 great Father above, who is the "alpha and 

 omega," can put in motion the machinery 

 necessary to answer our prayers (offered 

 by his childre'T), even before the prayer 

 has been made? 



The two incidents I have mentioned are 

 only a few of the many that occurred in 

 the year 1879. What has called the matter 

 up just now is that our friend J. G. Corey 

 is still living, and his picture will be found 

 on another page of this issue. 



Let me remark right here, that, away 

 back in the early days, when Italian bees, 

 or bees of any kind for that matter, were 

 first sent to California, friend Corey was 

 employed by the government to carry the 

 mail where there were no railroads, and 

 hardly any roads of any kind (for that 

 matter) in those localities. He got a small 

 colony at a big price, and made a very light 

 hive for it, for the colony Avas really only a 

 nucleus, and carried it on his shoulders 

 more titan a hundred miles over the moun- 

 tains. Part of the trip could be made only 

 on snowshoes. He got them through alive, 

 and from that single colony alone he start- 

 ed an apiary. He built them up success- 

 fully ; divided, and for quite a time he sold 

 all he could spare, for forty or fifty dollars 

 per colony ; and that was the start of the 

 great beekeeping industry in that region. 

 Mr. Harbison, who took a carload of bees 

 to California about that time, sold a gi'eat 



it retains its position while in use. The Simplicity 

 always seemed to me a little awkward, on account 

 of being obliged to turn it bottom up so often, while 

 in \ise. 



Now, if you can use this to advantage, or modify 

 it to suit you any better, you are welcome to it. 



As a counterbalance to friend Sedgwick, I will 

 say that the best part of Gleanings, to me, is "Our 

 Homes." Four years ago I would have written as 

 he does, but I see things differently now, and am 

 happy in being able to place myself by your side, as 

 a Christian. May God speed you in your good work, 

 and bless "Our Homes." Your friend. 



Sterling, 111., Feb. 4, 1879. Norman Clark. 



