WOEKING EQUIPMENT 21 



SMOKERS. 



Now, about the smoker (Fig. 12) ; years ago, two 

 smokers (one blowing hot, the other cold smoke) were 

 offered for sale. There is no need to enter upon a 

 dissertation on the respective merits of hot and cold 

 blasts. Time has eliminated the cold blast smoker; it 

 is now rarely met with. The smoker in almost universal 

 use to-day is known as the "Bingham" (named after 

 the American apiarist Bingham who first constructed it). 

 It has been considerably improved by the A.I. Root Co.. 

 U.S.A., and as represented in the illustration leaves little 

 to be desired. The construction is apparent ; it is simply 

 a metal fire box on a small pair of bellows. It is easily 

 lighted, and with suitable material will give a dense 

 volume of smoke for hours. 



A great many materials form excellent smoker fuel: 

 greasy waste from an engineer's shop, wood shavings 

 of pine timber, pressed in tightly, old chaff sacks, or 

 cotton rags. But the fuel we favour is something right 

 to our hand in the forest; the fibrous bark of the 

 Eucalyptus trees, especially the common stringybark 

 tree (E. macrorrhyncha) . To light the smoker drop in 

 a little bark or rag, apply a match, allow fuel to get well 

 alight, then start gentle blowing and fill up the fire box 

 rather tightly. Some smokers have a curved "snout" 

 and some are straight; there is little to complain of in 

 either. The sizes of the furnaces range from 3 to 5 

 inches in diameter. The amount of work to be performed 

 determines the size of the smoker. A small hook is 

 attached to the bellows, and this is handy for hanging 

 smoker on hives or barrow. 



HIVE TOOL. 



There will also be required some sort of hive-tool 

 (Fig. 13). Many apiarists use a screw driver, or a chisel, 

 or even an old knife, but they are not as handy to use as 

 the tool itself. A simple pattern is made of iron, shaped 

 like a screw drivSr one end, the other flattened out. The 

 tool is to lift or ease any portion of the hive that gets 



