The beekeeper with the advantage of present day implements can scarcely realize the difficulty of controlling the bees in the days before such equipment was available. Probably, as soon as man learned the art of weaving he provided himself with some kind of veil to protect himself from stings. It was not until a very recent time that he learned an efficient control by means of well-directed smoke, although crude methods of smoking bees have been practiced for centuries.

When the use of tobacco became common, the beekeepers soon learned that the smoke was useful in quieting the bees. A man with a pipe in his mouth could blow a small amount of smoke over the frames and, if the bees were not inclined to be cross, could secure a measure of control. There was no way, however, to produce enough smoke to subdue an irritated colony, and beekeepers of old were compelled to endure a great deal of physical punishment.

Once the efficacy of smoke was understood, there was a constant endeavor to find better means for its use. Various kinds of pans were used for holding a small fire made from some material which smoked freely, and this was blown across the hive by means of expelling the breath. Old time beekeepers often made themselves dizzy in an attempt to control the bees in this manner.

Herrod-Hempsall in his book, Beekeeping New and Old, tells of the show held by the British Beekeepers at the Crystal Palace in 1874. A prize was offered for the best method of quieting the bees. F. Cheshire won with a contraption made with a briar root pipe and a rubber tube. By alternately pressing and releasing the tube, the smoke was driven out the hole in the stem. A very small volume of smoke could thus be produced.

At the same exhibition a "Bee Quieter" was shown by Reverend Blight. This was a small bellows with a wooden nozzle, the large end of which held enough tobacco to provide a small amount of smoke.

Prior to 1875, no practical method of using smoke efficiently had been found. All methods used were so crude as to offer but little help to the beekeeper. Tobacco smoke blown from the mouth was about the best thing available at that time. Moses Quinby is generally credited with the invention of the first practical implement in that year.

J. S. Harbison used this smoker with tube attached to ordinary hand bellows. The fuel was wrapped around a metal core and inserted in the tube.

A. I. Root had used what he called his "corn popper" smoker. The screen container used for popping com was filled with rotten wood and a live coal dropped in. After the lid was closed the handle was grasped and the popper moved rapidly through the air to fan the blaze. After the rotten wood was well fired the blaze was blown out and continued to smoke for some time. This was moved back and forth over the open hive and the smoke blown down by the beekeeper's breath, which was hardly satisfactory. There was no means of control of the volume or of directing it where most needed. Root expressed himself as willing to be stung rather than to be unduly smoked by such an implement.

A step forward was the use of a tin tube about eight inches long and an inch and a half in diameter with wooden plugs in the end. With a hole a quarter-inch in diameter in each plug, it was possible to have a fire in the tube and blow the smoke through it. In this manner the smoke could be directed somewhat more efficiently, but it was difficult to operate, and the beekeeper often received a good dose of smoke in his own eyes or swallowed it when he inhaled.

In the early editions of his book, Quinby described such a tube somewhat smaller in size and stated that it was necessary to blow almost constantly to keep it burning.

This early smoker with twenty-inch tube was made and sold by Levi Sutliffe of Charles City, Iowa, in 1878. It is typical of many which had short popularity.

It seems strange to us now that practical methods of control of the bees had been so long delayed. Even Aristotle had noticed that smoke had a quieting effect on the bees, and occasional mention of the fact had appeared in the writings on bee culture since that early date. As late as June, 1867, a writer, in the American Bee Journal, told how to use a common fire shovel with a little fire on it for smoking the bees. The rotten wood provided the smoke which was blown into the entrance of the hive. In the same magazine in July, 1874, Quinby wrote: "Our success in bee management depends upon the judicious use of smoke, " and stated that how to apply smoke conveniently and effectively, without blowing the breath away, had been the object of long study with him.

In 1875, as already mentioned, Quinby added a bellows to his tube of tin, and at last the fundamental principle was found. Once well fired it worked beautifully, but it went out when laid aside. Quinby had a small tube to carry the air from the bellows to the fire pot and thus avoided the necessity of using the mouth to blow the smoke.