Langstroth wrote:
> I can superintend a large number of
> hives, performing every operation that is necessary for pleasure or profit,
> and yet not run the risks of being stung, which must frequently be incurred
> in attempting to manage, in the simplest way, the common hives."
Yes, well, Langstroth kept bees in one story, with jars over holes on the inner cover in which to store the surplus. I doubt he ever had a full strength colony, he was always making nucs. Also, he never made a living from bees, so one wonders if he ever had a paying crop.
The pioneers of commercial beekeeping were people like Quimby, Hetherington, Harbison, etc. They had big colonies and hundreds or thousands of them. They used smoke. To me, the acid test to tell the difference between an experienced beekeeper and a dabbler: just watch them light the smoker. Of course, if they don't use a smoker, they fail the test. CC Miller was more of a professional, he said
BEE-SMOKERS.
You who have used smokers ever since you began
working with bees hardly know how to appreciate them.
At least it is doubtful if you appreciate them as much as
you would if you had done as I did when I first began
bee-keeping, going around with a pan of coals and a
burning brand on it, or else a lighted piece of rotten wood
(indeed this last was quite an improvement over the
first), the only bellows I had being a sound pair of lungs.
Any one of the various makes of smokers I have tried
will do quite satisfactory work. I have used up more
Clark smokers than any others. Although low in price,
the Clark is really more expensive than any other. It
works beautifully while new, but the "new" wears off
entirely too soon. The bellows becomes incapacitated by
reason of the smoke sucked into it, and then there is no
good way to clean it out.
Using a smoker all day long is a hard thing on the
muscles that work the bellows, and the stiffer the spring
of the bellows the more tiresome the work. But unless
the spring be quite stiff, the smoker will drop out of the
hand when the grasp is relaxed so as to allow the bellows
to open. I think it was W. L. Coggshall who suggested
little cleats on the smoker, and these cleats have given
great satisfaction.
Miller (1903) Forty years among the bees
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|