1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



725 



ia the world. In 1895, 1,200,000 pounds of honey were sold 

 in Chicago. 



Pres. Root — It is now 10 o'clock, the time for the chapel 

 exercises of the University. In accordance with the agree- 

 ment last night, we will now go to the chapel, where Dr. Miller 

 will deliver an address to the University students. 



The regular devotional exercises of the students were con- 

 ducted by Rev. E. T. Abbott, at the close of which Chancellor 

 MacLean said to the students: "We are favored this morn- 

 ing by the attendance of the North American Bee-Keepers' 

 Association. We will now listen to an address by Dr. C. C. 

 Miller, of Marengo, 111., a man famous as a musician, bee- 

 keeper, humorist and orator." 



Dr. Miller's Address to the Students. 



As I look over the bright and earnest faces before me, a 

 feeling of envy comes into my heart, to think that I cannot 

 have the place the Chancellor has here. [Laughter.] And, 

 then, I think if I had that place, I would be glad to e.xchange 

 it for the place of one of those under his care. Dear friends, 

 I wonder if you know what you have these opportunities, 

 these professors and this Chancellor for. 



When I look upon you, I go back — as I sometimes go back 

 In dreams — to the time when I was in college. And when I 

 wake from those dreams I wish it was true. My mind goes 

 back this morning Just 45 years. I go back to the time when, 

 for two years — the last two years of my college course — for the 

 sake of being able to write A. B. after my name, I kept house 

 myself. I will give you an inventory of my China closet ; One 

 plate, one tablespoon — I didn't need a teaspoon; one fork; 

 one knife; one kettle. I lived on corn-meal — I could get that 

 for less than anything else. I boarded myself for 35 cents a 

 week. I would not advise any of you to try it. I nearly 

 ruined my health, but I am not sorry for the experience I had 

 in those days. But, it seems to me, you ought to De thankful 

 that you have a better chance than I had. 



What did I work so hard for ? I wanted a degree. If I 

 could only write A. B. after my name, I would be one of the 

 happiest men in the world. I don't know where the diploma 

 is that has that on it. It didn't bring me the happiness that 

 I supposed it would. When you get through your course, you 

 will find that alone will not make you happy. You are here 

 with advantages that will prepare you to have an influence 

 over your fellow-beings, that you could not have without the 

 training that you get here. It is valuable to you. I hope you 

 will prepare for usefulness and happiness. Some of you are 

 thinking only of what will make you happy. Advancement in 

 study will not make you happy. There will be a vacancy left. 

 Dear friends, I hope God will givf> me the grace and power 

 this morning to impress upon your minds that the thing that 

 will make you happy is to be useful to your fellowmen. To 

 try to get some one to live a better life, to get a little nearer 

 to the road that will lead him up to the life where all is .joy 

 and happiness. 



Some of you may be thinking that you are to fill some 

 great place in this world. I used to think about that. "Oh, 

 if I could be a great man !" One of the greatest disappoint- 

 ments of my life was that I was not appreciated, and elected 

 President. I thought I was made up for President of these 

 United States. 



[The Chancellor — You must be aNebraskan.] [Laughter.] 



And there were other things ; nobody appreciated me. 

 But I found after awhile that there was One who could meas- 

 ure me, and know exactly what I was fitted for. The God 

 that made me knows me through and through, better than I 

 ■do. He placed me in a certain point, and then I found that I 

 was to do his work joyfully, wherever he put me. Whenever 

 you are ready to do that, you are going to be the happiest 

 people in the world. I am the happiest man in our family, 

 which consists of myself and two other women. [Laughter.] 

 I am a happy man because I think I am doing the work that 

 has been given me to do from day to day. I don't want to go 

 away to foreign shores. I don't want to step into the Chan- 

 cellor's place. I. just want to do from day to day what the 

 Lord wants me to do. 



Now if you forget everything else, I want you to remem- 

 ber what I am going to sing to you. It is this sort of feeling 

 that makes life worth a great deal to me. I want you to be 

 happyjn just the same way. The Lord bless you, and lead 

 you for the betterment of the world and the salvation of souls. 



C. C. Miller. 



[Then the Doctor sang the song we printed two weeks 

 ago. — Editor.] 



At 10:302the Assoclat'on returned to Union Hall. 

 Pres. Root — Dr. Bessey informs me that owing to other 

 engagements, the only lime in which he will be able to ad- 



dress us is within the next five minutes. Are there any ques- 

 tions at present ? 



Wintering and Foul Brood Questions. 



A Member — My bees have 50 pounds of capped honey in 

 the brood-nest with 10 frames, chaff hives. Shall I contract 

 to 6 frames for winter ? 



Dr. Miller — Let them alone. 



A Member — That depends upon whether he winters them 

 out-doors or in the cellar. 



Asker of Question— Out-of-doors. 



General cries — " Let them alone !" 



Dr. Mason — What can be done by bee-keepers towards 

 securing legislation in the various States for the eradication 

 of foul brood ? 



Dr. Miller — I would write to some of those States that, 

 have been successful in securing legislation, and see how they 

 have done it. 



Pres. Root then introduced Prof. Chas. E. Bessey, who 

 spoke on 



A Botanist Among the Bees. 



Mr. President, I have brought here for distribution a few 

 copies of the bulletin which I have published — a preliminary 

 list of the honey-producing plants of Nebraska. 



Now, the subject which I have is "A Botanist Among the 

 Bees." I suggested to the Secretary that I should prefer to 

 have it read this way, because I am merely a botanist. I am 

 sorry that I am not a bee-keeper. 1 was once for a little 

 while. But the cares of thi? world and other brambles sprang 

 up — and you can carry out the parable. The bee-keeping was 

 choked off. So my knowledge of bee-keeping is merely a 

 reminiscence. I am a botanist, but I have never been able to 

 get away from the bee-keepers. They have been after me 

 from year to year just as the bees used to get after me. 



What can a botanist do among the bees? What can he 

 bring to a company of men like you, that will be of any ser- 

 vice ? My business is to know plants ; not merely to know 

 them by name, for that idea of botany, which is the prevalent 

 one, is not the idea that is held by botanists. Not merely to 

 know the names of plants — that is a minor matter ; but to 

 know what plants are, how they live and get on in the world. 

 Right here is where the botanist may be of use to the bee- 

 keeper, and, through the bee-keeper, may be of use to the 

 bees, which are domesticated, and under the control of the 

 bee-keeper. 



Among the matters that have come to the botanist these 

 later years, are such things as the investigation of the rela- 

 tions existing between insects and plants. Now, these rela- 

 tions that the botanist discusses are not those that the ento- 

 mologist takes up. The botanist investigates the use which 

 plants make of insects ; the entomologist studies the manner 

 in which insects use the plants. The plants use insects, as 

 was suggested last evening in one of the addresses. It is a 

 fact that very many plants are almost entirely, and some of 

 them entirely, dependent upon the presence of insects in order 

 that they may propagate themselves. We have learned that 

 the higher insects have these relations to plants in a very 

 large degree. And the bees are among the most important of 

 these insects, which aid in the fertilization, carrying the pol- 

 len from plant to plant, in order that there may be seed. 



A plant is a good, honest thing, and always renders an 

 equivalent. Instead of beguiling the insects to come and do 

 some work, and then rendering no equivalent, these plants 

 furnish something which the bees want. Now, there is where 

 the nectar comes in. I may forget myself and call it " honey," 

 but you will understand what I mean. It is the sweet bait 

 which plants put somewhere in their flowers for the purpose 

 of enticing insects to come. Now there is the philosophy of 

 this relation between plants and bees. We have found that 

 the flower puts some nectar here or there, in order that the 

 bee or other insects may persistently come to these flowers ; 

 and in the search for this nectar, they manage to get them- 

 selves covered with pollen. 



I am boiling down, as you will see, a good many botanical 

 lectures into this short discussion. 



Where, then, is the nectar in the flower? You may just 

 as well ask, "Where is the bait put in the mouse-trap?" It 

 is never put in front of the trap ; it is always back of the 

 essential part of the trap. The -nouse-trap has a certain busi- 

 ness to do — either to snap a spring down and kill the mouse, 

 or to entrap the live mouse. The bait is, then, always put 

 behind the essential part of the trap. The nectar is bait, 

 pure and simple ; and this is always put back of the place in 

 the flower where the bee is to do its work of getting or leav- 

 ing pollen. So, in looking for the place where the nectar is, 

 you will always find that it stands in just that position. It is 



