142 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mar. 1 



his treatment, is eggless for at least 27 days. 

 Dr. Miller overlooks this point entirely as es- 

 sential Nuwhere in all of Alexander's writ- 

 ings did he ever say that a laying queen must 

 be introduced four days prior to the hatch- 

 ing of all the old brood. Now the "sage of 

 Marengo " introduces a virgin on the tenth 

 day (one day later than Alexander recom- 

 mends the destruction of all queen-cells or 

 virgins), which makes it poss ble for new 

 eggs to be in the hive on tne fifteenth day, 

 or nine days before all the old drone brood 

 is hatched. Under normal conditions, colo- 

 nies made queenless with Dr. Miller's "dis- 

 coveries " make it possible to have a laying 

 queen in the hive earlier than if they were 

 left to their own fate. I wonder how many 

 of those who read his "modifications" be- 

 lieve the doctor when he says that he discov- 

 ered that diseased brood piled up over an 

 excluder on top of a strong colony will be 

 cleaned out in "eight or ten days' 'V Fn fact, 

 he says "even less time may answer when 

 there is not too much cleaning-up to do." 



Now hsten: ' Mr. Alexander had hardly 

 gone beyond the experimental stage, and it 

 is possible that he never tried any shorter 

 time than three weeks." Those who had 

 the honor of knowing Mr. Alexander, know, 

 and know it well, that he would not recom- 

 mend any thing to others that he had not 

 thoroughly worked out for himself, not in 

 one season, not on one colony, not in "eight 

 or ten days," but in every conceivable sci- 

 entific, methodical, diligent, painstaking, and 

 conscieniious way on hundreds of colonies 

 for a period of many years. This is against 

 Dr. Miller's one season of experience with 

 European foul brood. 



I have had more than ten continuous years, 

 not alone with my own bees, but with those 

 of others, for whom I did the curing I have 

 gone over the field pretty thoroughly, and 

 tried the Alexander method for the past three 

 years. I have had several hundred badly 

 diseased combs cleaned out in five days over 

 excluders, but the combs had hung in the 

 honey-house all the prev ious winter and were 

 condemned for wax, but 1 had trouble in se- 

 curing supplies for myself last pring, so I 

 decided to use them again, having no fear 

 wtiatever, as I knew they could be cleaned. 

 In Dr. Miller's case he placed combs with 

 live brood on top of excluders (presumably 

 to save the brood), and when he says "In 

 about three weeks from the time the pile 

 was formed (21 days from the time of the re- 

 moval of the queen), the queen was laying 

 in whai generally pruved to be clean combs." 

 Oh how ea&y! Would or cuuld the re&ults 

 have been different if the queen-cells had 

 never been destroyed and a "virgin of choice 

 stock " substituted? If this kind of teaching 

 were true, no Europe xn foul brood could 

 ever have existed. Nature makes ample 

 provision tor just this very thing without the 

 intervention of Dr. Miller. In trom eight to 

 Sixteen days after the prime natural swarm, 

 nature always introduces a virgin (.sometimes 

 of "choice stock"). 



Alexander is very positive in his instruc- 



tions on this point when he says, page 1125, 

 Nov. 1, 1905, "Supply each one of your dis- 

 eased queenless colonies with a npe queen- 

 cell or virgin just hatched ... on the 

 twentieth day after you have removed their 

 old queen, and not one hour sooner, for upon 

 this very point your whole success depends; 

 for your young queen must not commence to 

 lay until three or four days attt-r the last of 

 the old bruod is hatched, or 27 days from the 

 time you remove the old queen." 



Does this savor of the "experimental 

 stage " from a man who was as honest and 

 thoroughly positive as the firmament ? 



To my mind it is obvious that in this, his 

 first trip. Dr. Miller did not travel over the 

 Alexander road. How, then, does he know 

 where the mud-holes or bridges are? He 

 made a guess, and says the road is macadam- 

 ized (easy), and that sewer-pipe was used in 

 construction for the underdrains, and that 

 he has " discovered " a much nicer grade, 

 recommends that less expensive drain- pipes 

 be used, and a crosscut of Wingard's fuur- 

 mile swamp can be made by supplying 

 stilts for the horses, therefore reducing the 

 distance three miles. I will admit that Dr. 

 Miller is a good guesser in the "bee line," 

 but on this Alexander road he has another 

 coming. 



Mr. Editor, how is Dr. Miller capable of 

 modifying or " discovering" something new 

 in this road, when it is manifestly true that 

 he never traveled it? Is it possible, after 

 paying $50.00 for this very information in or- 

 der that the world may profit by it, that you 

 do not know what you bought? After being 

 at his house, and an eye witness to his meth- 

 ods, do you believe Alexander was a fakir 

 and a liar? Your comments are worded in 

 your characteristic adroit and somewhat il- 

 lusive style; but your headlines and general 

 import are misleading, this being true not 

 only in the articles of Dr. Miller, but with 

 the articles of Alexander. It is mainly 

 through your editorial and comments that 

 this misunderstanding occurs. 



After writing the above, in substance, I de- 

 cided to allow you and Dr. Miller sufficient 

 time to see the error of your way, and you 

 would surely endeavor to retract in the fol- 

 lowing issue of Gleanings; but, alas! no re- 

 pentance; instead, a continuation of the same 

 standard of teaching. Even if Dr. Miller was 

 correct in his deductions from his very limit- 

 ed experience with European foul brood and 

 the Alexander method of treating it, it is a 

 question if such knowledge is safe in the 

 hands of the average beekeeper, not con- 

 sidering the amateurs. 



In aiming to perpetuate the memory of 

 Alexander, and safeguarding the interests of 

 all bee-keepers, let me suggest that hereafter 

 Dr. Miller's data of any new "discoveries" 

 on any of Alexander's teachings be first sub- 

 mitted to the University of Copenhagen be- 

 fo:e it be given to the public. 



Williamsport, Pa. 



[We decided to turn our pugnacious cor- 

 respondent over to the " tender mercies " of 

 Dr. Miller, feeling that if he (or we) were 



