MAY 15, 10 If) 



393 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



iTMAY STMAW! 



larengo, IlL 



Kkplytnt, lo J. A. llebt'ile, p. 

 :!7!). 1 think heather is not to be 

 loiuul in this country. A patch 

 was once started, in New Jersey, I 

 lliiiik. but did not succeed. As he 

 says, heather honey is not consid- 

 ered tirst-chiss in Germany, but, 

 somewhat curiously, in Scotland it is count- 

 ed the finest in the world. 



Ai.i. tile while I'm learning more and 

 more tliat rules good for me nuiy not be 

 uood for others. One of the thinus that 1 



i 



think 



;n(i\v for certain is that it is not 



advisable for me to supersede any queen 

 merely on account of her age. Now comes 

 v. ('. Chadwick, p. 353, and says he lost 10 

 pel' cent of his two-year-old queens in win- 

 ter and spring, and not one of his one-year- 

 olds. If 1 had his locality, or his bees — T 

 wonder which it is — I'd suffer no two-year- 

 olds excej)! a few extra good ones. 



(Jlai) to see that good word about Editor 

 Bixby, p. 304; but why didn't you tell us 

 about his wifef I suspect she's the better 

 man of the two. [If she is not the " better 

 man " she is certainly his equal. She knows 

 how to make mulRns to go with honey that 

 are .<;u}>erior to any thing w-e have ever tast- 

 ed anywhere. If they could be sold at 

 either of the great expositions on the Pacific 

 Coast, with honey and butter on them, they 

 would draw crowds — yes, a regular stam- 

 pede of people. She is just as much inter- 

 ested in bee problems as any beeman we 

 ever met. It is not often that we find a 

 woman so enthusiastic about her husband's 

 business. She did and could kee^D up with 

 two bee editors, and that is going some. — 

 .En.] 



ION'.\ Fowls. I'd give a pretty penny for 

 a talk with you. You say, p. 377, that Mr. 

 Alexander " took bees that had not begun 

 swarming." Yes, but he also took bees that 

 had started cells, for he especially directs 

 to look the hive over to see if it contains 

 cells, and-'* If it does, destroy them." (See 

 A B C and X Y Z, p. 365.) In Gleanings 

 for Aug. 15, 1911, p. 490, to which you 

 refer, I replied, to a question, that brood 

 over an empty super would not start swarm- 

 ing below; but 1 didn't say, and I didn't 

 think, that swarming would be started if 

 there was nothing but an excluder between 

 the queen and the brood above. In fact, 

 that's the very thing I've done many a time, 

 after cells were started, and even after 



swarming, and 1 don't remember that I 

 ever did it before cells were started. And 

 I count it a sure cure for swarming. 



J. L. Peabody, the 83-year-old who ap- 

 pears on page 343, is the man who invented 

 the first honey-extractor 1 ever used or 

 saw. He's the man of whom beekeepers 

 may feel proud. [One of the privileges we 

 had at the National convention held al 

 Denver was to see and hear Mr. Peabody. 

 The president invited him to the platform 

 to address the meeting. Notwithstanding 

 his early connection with the honey-extract- 

 or, he was very modest in saying that not 

 he but his brother should be given the credit 

 for building that early machine. He was 

 generous to say, however, that A. I. Root 

 built a better machine because it was geared 

 up. He rhen went on to tell his early 

 experiences, all of which was interesting, 

 because we were listening to a man who 

 was one of the early jjioneers, and whose 

 name has been linked with those of Lang- 

 stroth, Quinby, Wagner, Gallup, Tupper, 

 and others of those early days; and while 

 we are about it we might as well link our 

 own Dr. Miller with the group. — Ed.] 



You^KE trying, Mr. Editor, p. 347, to find 

 why aster stores act differently in different 

 localities ; and while you're at that you may 

 as well tell at the same time why your bees 

 Avork on aster and mine don't. Asters and 

 goldenrods a-plenty here, but seldom a bee 

 on them. [Can't answer that question; but 

 next fall we hope asters will not yield in 

 our locality. If the aster honey should all 

 be used up in brood-rearing it would do no 

 harm ; but asters yield such an infinitesimal- 

 ly small quantity that the poor bee that is 

 out in the field after it must go miles and 

 miles and miles through swamp brush tear- 

 ing its wings before it can get a load. In 

 oui" opinion bees will wear themselves out 

 in working on aster — more so than on any 

 other honey-])lant. One apiary that we had 

 near the Akron SAvamp was in fine condition 

 by the first of Sei)tember. By the first of 

 October those same colonies dwindled down 

 to half their former strength. It looked as 

 if half of them had been poisoned. The 

 real fact is, that the aster bees had worn 

 themselves out by long flights, and died a 

 natural death. This left the colonies about 

 half strength, with bad stores for winter. 

 Fearing that these stores might kill them we 

 movcfl most of the aster bees to Virginia, 

 whei-e they could have a flight evei-y few 

 days. — Ed.] 



