1917 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



373 



MISS EMMA M. WILSON. 



until she became so fully absorbed in 

 the new work that she forgot her 

 resolution to return to the school- 

 room at the earliest possible mo- 

 ment. 



Those who have visited at the Mil- 

 ler home know 

 without being told 

 that Miss Wilson 

 is a strong-minded 

 individual, and not 

 a mere echo of Dr. 

 Miller. The two 

 disagree about bees 

 as often as any two 

 of the rest of us, 

 and in spite of the 

 Doctor's wide repu- 

 tation, I would as 

 soon 'chance Miss 

 Wilson's judgment 

 as the doctor's. 

 Ever since the 

 writer had the good 

 fortune to be enter- 

 tained there he has 

 been seeking a good 

 excuse to go back 

 again. With two 

 such characters the 

 stage is set for a 

 whole bee conven- 

 tion when a third 

 enthusiast arrives. 

 Miss Wilson, 

 through her asso- 

 ciation with Dr. 



Miller and her own writings for the 

 journals, has long been known to the 

 beekeeping world. Together they 

 liave developed what is probably the 

 best system of swarm control for 

 comb-honey production as yet given 

 to the public, and by careful selection 

 of their breeding stock have devel- 

 oped a strain of honey gatherers that 

 is probably unsurpassed. 



It was in 1913 that they produced 

 the phenomenal crop which broke all 

 known records of per colony produc- 

 tion of comb honey, and made Ma- 

 rengo tlic center of attraction of the 

 beekeeping world. Miss Wilson goes 

 Doctor Miller one better as an advo- 

 cate of being ready to make hay 

 while the sun shines. The Doctor had 

 long advocated having about seven 

 supers ready in advance of the 

 lioney-flow in anticipation of a bet- 

 ter crop than had ever been har- 

 vested. After the Doctor had assist- 

 ed her to prepare the usual half 

 dozen supers, with an extra one, Miss 

 Wilson insisted that the season was 

 promising a bigger crop than they 

 had ever prepared for and insisted 

 that he order some more sections. 

 The good Doctor assured her that 

 hers was optimism run wild, and that 

 such a crop as she dreamed about 

 liad never been gathered, and that 

 they would never live to gather such 

 a one. At last he did order five thou- 

 sand more sections, as he says, for 

 the sake of his peace of mind rather 

 than because he was convinced that 

 they would be needed. By the time 

 the new sections were ready Miss 

 Wilson again insisted on more yet, so 

 seeing that the bees were rapidly 

 filling up the big piles of supers, as 

 Miss Wilson had expected, he or- 

 dered another five thousand, and this 

 time did not insist that it was en- 

 tirely for the sake of his peace of 

 mind. When the crop was off and it 

 was announced that the average was 

 about 266 sections per colony 



MISS MATHILDA CANDLER BRINGING HOME A LOAD OF HONEY. 



tlirough the yard, the beekeeping 

 world took off its hat to Miss Wil- 

 son and Dr. Miller, and the hat is 

 still off, for no one as yet has ap- 

 proached their record. The Doctor 

 credits most of this extraordinary 

 result to the woman in the case, and 

 we, who know them both, feel that 

 she is entitled to a large share, since 

 they have worked together for so 

 many years that it is difticult to de- 

 termine just which one originated 

 any particular idea. 



At the time of the writer's visit, 

 Miss Pettit was operating 250 colo- 

 nies in three yards. All were in easy 

 reach by auto and she had her work 

 so well in hand that she was planning 

 extensions which have no doubt been 

 made before this time. To avoid the 

 necessity of overtaxing herself dur- 

 ing the rush season she hires two 

 boys by the year. She keeps them 

 busy in dull times with work in the 

 garden and in nailing up supplies or 

 preparing the honey for market. The 

 resignation of her brother from his 

 official position, to engage in honey 

 production in partnership with her, 

 will no doubt materially alter her 

 former system of management. Her 

 honey in past years has largely been 

 put up in small containers and sold 

 to a retail trade. Miss Pettit's honey 

 is widely known and much of her 

 mail comes addressed to "Mr." R. B. 

 Pettit, few of her customers knowing 

 that R. B. Pettit is a woman. 



Miss Candler now" operates four 

 hundred colonies in seven yards. 

 With the help of one fourteen-year- 

 old boy she has done all the work for 

 the summer of 1917. She found her- 

 self deprived of skilled help at a crit- 

 ical time when it was too late to look 

 elsewhere, and although there was 

 more work than she liked to do, she 

 proved herself equal to the emergen- 

 cy and kept things moving along as 

 usual. Miss Candler counts on an 

 average of about 

 sixty-five pounds 

 per colony of sur- 

 plus, one year with 

 another. Although 

 it was a great dis- 

 appointment to give 

 up her dream of an 

 artist's career, she 

 has found a con- 

 genial occupation in 

 the open air, and 

 her bees have 

 brought her many 

 compensations, in- 

 cluding financial in- 

 dependence. 



Her crop this year 

 may not have been 

 as good as average, 

 but she has learned 

 the lesson which 

 every successful 



beekeeper must 



learn — that the sea- 

 sons will average 

 one with another, 

 and that, in a honey 

 dearth one must pre- 

 pare for the flow 

 which is to come. 



