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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Peter Loring Borst <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 6 Sep 2013 12:10:54 +0000
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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

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