8 
the smoke produced. Ordinary brown paper goes out very 
readily unless it has been treated with saltpetre. Punk or 
rotten wood lights easily, and rarely goes out till all is 
eonsumed. “ Moleskin” and corduroy are excellent, but not 
always readily obtainable. Very convenient, and usually 
very plentiful, is sacking or burlap. New material may be 
used, but, frequently, there is more old sacking lying about 
than the bee-keeper will use in a season. This fuel is not so 
easy to light as corrugated paper, but it produces abundance 
of smoke that is not too hot, and it is not easily extinguished. 
The fuel should be rolled loosely in the form of a cylinder 
of a size to fit easily inside the barrel of the smoker, and it 
should be lighted at the lower end. The beginner may find 
it easier at first to light the smoker at the fireside, but he will 
soon acquire the art of lighting up outside, even in windy 
weather, by holding the ighted match within the barrel of 
the smoker until the fuel has caught fire. Then, by working 
the bellows, a powerful cloud of smoke will be produced. 
Subduing Effect of Smoke. 
The question is frequently asked why it is that bees which 
have been lightly smoked are disinclined to sting. Langstroth, 
the great American bee-keeper, suggested that it induced the 
bees to fill their honey-sacs with honey, and made it 
physically difficult for them to curve the abdomen sharply 
so as to apply the sting. Another view is that the bee full 
of honey is like most well-fed animals, full of good humour, 
and at peace with all the world. In any case, it is a fact 
that bees brought in contact with smoke seem very rapidly 
to forget that they have stings at all. 
We shall probably get a more correct view of the effect 
of smoke upon bees if we try to imagine what it would have 
meant for them in their natural habitat, when they dwelt 
mainly in hollow trees in great forests. There they would 
be attacked by animal enemies who desired to rob them of 
their honey. In their effort to burgle the home of the bees, 
such marauders would necessarily shake the tree and attract 
