DECEMBER 15, 1913 



875 



many as 73 colonies, we do not know of him. 

 That means almost a carload. 



For fifty years we have listened to the 

 counsel and advice of this sage of Marengo. 

 That he is orthodox in his teachings, there 

 has never been any Cjuestion. If there bad 

 been, it would have been immediately dis- 

 pelled by the knowledge of his remarkable 

 yields of honey covering a period of man\ 

 years, and the quality of his production. 

 Said one of the largest buyers of comb 

 honey in New York, " Dr. Miller's honey is 

 always fine; and, what is more, it is always 

 graded honestly." Indeed, if we mistake 

 not, his crops have been contracted for and 

 sold some seasons even before they were 

 produced. 



Beautiful in spirit, with an ever abiding- 

 faith in God, his sentences, even from the 

 printed page, almost sparkle with the good 

 will that flows out from the man. One is 

 prepared to love him, even before he sees 

 him; but when one mets him and talks with 

 him face to face he realizes that, while the 

 printed page reveals much, it does not show 

 all of the kindly spirit back of " the smile 

 that won't come oil." 



Dr. E. F. Phillips, of the Bureau of En- 

 tomology, Washington, D. C, a year ago 

 this winter, desiring to get some data on 

 the subject of wintering, visited Dr. Miller. 

 On liis wa}' back he stoi^ped at Medina. 

 Said he, " Mr. Root, you have said a good 

 deal in praise of Dr. Miller. He deserves 

 it all. He is certainly a grand old man." 



If there is any one else on this continent 

 who can dispute Dr. Miller's claim to the 

 title of " Grand Old Man of Beedom," we 

 have never had the pleasure of his acquain- 

 tance. 



Some years ago we read the book, " Ten 

 Acres Enough," and it was enough to sup- 

 port a big family. We hear much nowadays 

 about " more bees." What is the matter of 

 making a few bees do more? Now comes 

 Dr. Miller who rnight write a book on " Sev- 

 enty-three Colonies Enough." If he did, he 

 would talk about greater efficiency than we 

 ar» practicing, perhaps. 



THE HAND SYSTEM OF PRODUCING COMB HON- 

 EY IN SECTIONS. 



Referring to our editorial on page 791, 

 in regard to the system described by Mr. 

 Hand on page 805, the latter writes as fol- 

 lows: 



I thank you for the fair and impartial manner in 

 which you reviewed the points in my section-honey 

 system in the editorial department. There are two 

 points, however, that I should like to have mentioned 

 in another editorial. First, you say, "When bees 

 start to draw out foundation they also begin to store 

 nectar in it at the same time." I think you are 



mistaken here ; for as a result of quite extensive ob- 

 servation I have found that hi inch is the minimum 

 depth of cells in which bees store nectar to any 

 extent. Since such will be as readily accepted and 

 give better results than deeper cells, this objection is 

 not valid. Second, your statement that thin foun- 

 dation has a disagreeable way of sagging and buck- 

 ling in sliallow frames calls to mind the fact that we 

 do not iise raw foundation for any purpose what- 

 ever — that is, foundation that has not been revamped 

 by painting the surface with warm melted wax ap- 

 plied with a brush. If too hot the wax will flow into 

 the (^Is and thicken the midrib ; if just right it will 

 adhere to the side walls, and build them up so as to 

 resemble closely that which has been worked by the 

 bees. It will not buckle ; and those who have used 

 it will attest to the eagerness with which bees accept 

 it. Indeed, I'm not sure that it will not supplant 

 di-awn foundation in the spontaneous control of 

 swarming ; in which case all will be clear sailing. 

 Birmingham, Ohio, Nov. 21. J. E. Hand. 



Regarding the first sentence, when bees 

 start to draw out foundation, much will 

 depend on locality and the strength of the 

 houey-flow. There are times when bees are 

 prepared to jam in nectar as soon as the 

 cells begin to be drawn out. 



In regard to the second point, it would 

 be our impression that the painting of the 

 surface of the foundation with warm melted 

 wax would eliminate the buckling and the 

 stretching; but would it not leave a dis- 

 agreeable midrib in the combs after it was 

 drawn out and filled with honey? Perhaps 

 a better plan would be to use a heavier 

 grade of foundation to start with, thus mak- 

 ing the midrib uniform throughout. One 

 or two of our correspondents have said if 

 we would use brood foundation in sections 

 the bees would acccept it much more readily 

 than the ordinary thin super or the extra 

 thin; that the midrib in the finished comb 

 honej' would not be nearly as pronounced 

 as one would imagine. We tried it on a 

 small scale this summer, and were surprised 

 to find that this was so ; indeed, if special 

 attention had not been called to it we doubt 

 if we would have noticed it. 



RETROSPECT FOR 1913 ; SOME IMPORTANT API- 

 CULTURAL HAPPENINGS DURING THE 

 YEAR. 



As we look back over the year that is just 

 closing, a number of notable things have 

 happened in the bee world. First and fore- 

 most we are safe in saying that 1913 will go 

 down in apicultural histoiy as having given 

 the largest crop of clover honey that has 

 been known in a couple of decades. Not- 

 withstanding there have been enormous 

 sales and a great consumption of honey, 

 immense quantities of extracted honey are 

 stored seeking a market. This, naturally, 

 has eased up prices a little. The emphatic 

 lesson that comes to us all is that we should 



