May, 11114. 



American ^ee ' J onrnaJj 



close the hole. Since smoke is the 

 most economical method of obliterat- 

 ing the hive odor, it is undoubtedly 

 ahead of all other methods of direct 

 introduction of queens, but evidence to 

 disprove the odor theory is sadly 

 lacking. 



The article mentioned is rendered 

 further conspicuous because it intro- 

 duces a trait in boe nature that has es- 

 caped my notice during the 35 years 

 that I have handled bees. This refers 

 to the statement by friend Miller, to the 

 effect that when combs with adhering 

 bees are taken from a hive and kept 

 separate for li> minutes or more, upon 

 again returning them to the hive the 

 bees will fight among themselves until 

 one-fourth of the colony is destroyed. 

 Such an unusual occurrence if reported 

 by a novice would cause a smile and a 

 whisper, "robbers" In any event, 

 however, such occurrences are of too 

 doubtful nature to be accepted in sup- 

 port or disapproval of any theory what- 

 soever. The logical conclusion is that 

 the odor theory still remains intact. 



Beekeepers I Have Known— 

 "Hamlin B.Miller" 



BY FR.\NK C. PELLETT. 



BEE FEVER, like other diseases, 

 varies in the intensity of the at- 

 tack. Ham Miller has it bad. Doc- 

 tors tell us that disease is seldom con- 

 tracted in the open air, but that is just 

 where Miller was exposed. 



Miller has a print shop in Marshall- 

 town, and, by the way, he must have a 

 good one, judging from the quality of 

 his output. Not long since the M. D.'s 

 caught Miller unawares, looked at his 

 tongue and felt his pulse and decided 

 that he was going into a decline. It was 

 accordingly decreed that he must stay 

 outdoors, get tanned, play with the 

 kiddies, and amuse himself with a lawn 

 mower and a croquet set. 



Living in town, he has near neigh- 

 bors. He had known, in a dim sort of 

 way, that there were others living near, 

 but up to this time he had been so oc- 

 cupied with his print shop that he had 

 not had time to observe them closely. 

 One morning not being permitted to 

 go to the shop, and as the prescription 

 required that he be outdoors, and the 

 lawn had been mown three times 

 already, there was really nothing to 

 do. He looked over the back fence to 

 see what his neighbor might be about. 

 He could hardly believe his eyes, for 

 there, standing over an open hive, was 

 a live man. Miller nearly had a fit, but 

 the neighbor was not the least bit ex- 

 cited, although he removed the frames, 

 examined the interior of the hive, and 

 even allowed the bees to calmly crawl 

 over his hands. When our friend had 

 sufBciently recovered himself, he began 

 to ask questions, and within a few days 

 there was a sudden rise in his tempera- 

 ture, for he had contracted another dis- 

 ease, which was destined to become 

 sufficiently acute to demand severe 

 measures in its treatment. Miller had 

 developed a case of bee fever in its 

 most tenacious form. 



Well, tliey bought bees (by this time 

 Mrs. Miller was developing slight 

 symptoms also), bee books and bee 



journals, and all the experiments that 

 were tried on the luckless occupants 

 of those pretty hives in the Miller back- 

 yard would fill a book. Now when you 

 meet Ham he is prepared to talk bees, 

 morning, noon or night. 



Of course, with the fever running so 

 high, our friend from Marshalltown 

 was one of the first on the ground for 

 last year's convention. The beekeep- 

 ers present, recognizing the value of 

 enthusiasm, elected him as a member 

 of the board of directors of the State 

 Association. It was not long before it 

 became very apparent that no mistake 

 had been made, for Miller was wide 

 awake when anything relating to the 

 interests of the society needed atten- 

 tion. 



Hamlin B Millek. 



On one occasion I was called to Des 

 Moines, by a member of the legisla- 

 ture, to appear before a committee in 

 support of the bills asked for by the 

 association. About the first thing this 

 member showed me, was a letter he 

 had received from Miller. This letter 

 was written on a nice letter head which 

 advertised the fact that Hamlin B. 

 Miller conducted a print shop at Mar- 

 shalltown. where he was prepared to 

 furnish nice printed matter for your 

 correspondence and a rubber stamp to 

 sign your name. The letter demanded, 

 or rather commanded attention from 

 the very first line, and it fairly sizzled 

 with information about foulbrood 

 among bees and glanders among horses, 

 and what the legislature owed to the 

 beekeeping interests of the State. It 

 soon became apparent that this mem- 

 ber's neighbor had a similar letter, and 

 before long I discovered that every 

 member of the house and senate had a 

 letter from Ham Miller, appealing to 

 them to look after the interests of the 

 beekeepers. These letters were not 

 without influence, I feel very sure. 



When Miller had honey for sale he 

 persuaded his neighbors fhat it was 

 just a little bit nicer than any other 

 honey they had every tasted, and 

 proved it to them by sample. He ac- 



cordingly sold his crop for 25 cents 

 per pound, and it was worth it, too. 



Miller has not kept bees very long, 

 and as yet does not keep very many, 

 but his is one of those cases of for 

 better, or for worse, until death do us 

 part, and in due time we will see him 

 on the front row with the big honey 

 producers. A more enthusiastic bee- 

 man was never allowed to run at large, 

 and had he made as much noise about 

 his printing as he does about his bees, 

 he would have long ago had to run a 

 night shift to keep them from getting 

 swamped. 



.Atlantic, Iowa. 



Odor and Queen Introduction 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER. 



DR.BRUNNICH'Sarticlein the March 

 issue of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal is interesting, but at the same 

 time a bit puzzling. He says the " ab- 

 solutely safe introduction of queens" 

 is for him " an unsolved problem." Just 

 what does he mean by "absolutely 

 safe ?" In this country, if we can aver- 

 age 99 percent of suceessful introduc- 

 tions when putting in thousands of 

 queens, we consider such a system as 

 near "absolutely safe" as anything 

 human can be. 



He says he tried the direct method 

 years ago, and that the new direct 

 method "does not differ essentially 

 from the old one." It differs very ma- 

 terially. I, too, tried the older direct 

 methods many years ago, dropped 

 them, took them up again, and finally 

 evolved the system which is now so 

 Successful. If Dr. Brunnich will de- 

 queen a colony with as little disturb- 

 ance as possible, then close the en- 

 trance to the width of an ordinary 

 mailing cage, give the bees two or 

 three puffs of thick white smoke, so it 

 will drive well inside the hive, close 

 the hive for three to five minutes, then 

 run in the new queen, leaving the col- 

 ony confined for five minutes, and at 

 the end of that time opening a small 

 space at one corner, giving the whole 

 entrance when they have quieted down, 

 I think he will have no further trouble 

 with the direct method. 



The new method being so successful 

 here, in so many thousands of cases, I 

 cannot but feel that the Doctor has 

 missed some part or overdone some. 



As to the odor factor: He refers to 

 anointing a queen with the juice of 

 crushed workers. The experiment 

 proves nothing. Had he anointed sev- 

 eral queens thus, fixed a similar num- 

 ber with an odor known to be disliked 

 by the bees and used a similar number 

 without treatment, and then had those 

 anointed with the crushed workers ac- 

 cepted and the others destroyed, his 

 experiments would have indicated 

 something. 



I have anointed queens with all sorts 

 of odors admitted to be repulsive to 

 bees, as human perspiration, that from 

 animals, etc., and by the smoke method 

 have not failed to have all of them ac- 

 cepted, which indicates thatsuch odors 

 do not cause the bees to refuse the 

 queen. 



He says: "It is not to be forgotten 

 that not in a single circumstance does 

 the scent decide the good or bad re- 



