534 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Ang. 3 1905 



it a failure with him. Editor Root, having 

 previously used it successfully, finilly struck 

 a kind of propolis that was proof against 

 lava soap. He says : 



" To-day I got my hands pretty badly 

 smeared up with a yellowish-brown propolis, 

 ' and now,' said I, ' is a good time to test the 

 lava soap.' It had absolutely no effect on the 

 propolis. I rubbed and scrubbed; but the 



I 



more I lathered and soaped the more it seemed 

 to stick. I then went to the benzine-can, 

 sopped my hands in the liquid, and soon had 

 the satisfaction of seeing the propolis roll off. 

 A second application of the soap made my 

 hands nice and clean." 



He thinks this "gummy, yellowish-brown 

 stuff" must first be treated with gasoline, 

 alcohol, or the like. 



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inisccUaneoiis Hctps 2kms 



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Fourtb of July with I>r. Miller.— 



Again it was the happy privilege ot y<; editor 

 and wife to spend Fourth ot July with Dr. 

 C. C. Miller and his family. Doubtless the 

 great majority of our readers know that 

 Dr. Miller's family usually comprises, be- 

 sides himself, Mrs. Miller, her sister (Miss 

 Emma M. Wilson), and their beloved mother, 

 Mrs. Wilson. " Mother" Wilson will be 87 

 years ot age her next birthday. The presence 

 of this dear old saint would be a benediction 

 in any home. Although the day was cloudy 

 and rainy, we persuaded her to sit on the 

 porch, holding a tray ot four boxes of just- 

 picked luscious strawberries, in order to 

 " take her picture." The result is shown on 

 the first page. 



Dr. Miller has two apiaries this season — one 

 at home, having 125 colonies and nuclei, and 

 an out-apiary (3 miles away) with 100 colo- 

 nies. All are run for comb honey. He began 

 with 178 colonies in the spring. 



In early spring he and his efficient assistant. 

 Miss Wilson, had prepared 36,000 sections, 

 each with a top and a bottom starter of comb 

 foundation, and all put in supers ready to 

 place on the hives when needed. The pros- 



He is using what proves to be a very rapid 

 method o? having queen-cells completed for 

 the queen-nursery. He removed the queen 

 from the only Cyprian colony he has, and 

 then gave that queenless colony two frames 

 of eggs and young larvie from the banner 

 colony. In due time the Cyprian colony had 

 those two combs looking like the picture on 

 the first page. There were 45 queen-cells on 

 one of them, and 74 on the other. It was 

 really laughable to see how the bees of that 

 "Cyp" colony had humped themselves in 

 order to provide a queen or two for them- 

 selves! Then at the proper time Dr. Miller 

 simply cuts off the perfected cells and puts 

 them in the queen-nursery, which is placed 

 over another colony for hatching. As the 

 virgin queens then emerge, they are intro- 

 duced to nuclei previously formed, and await- 

 ing the reception of the hybrid queens reared 

 by the fiery-tempered Cyprian nurses. It is all 

 a very successful procedure. 



Dr. Miller keeps a book record of each col- 

 ony ot his apiaries. The home yard is num- 

 bered beginning with 1, while the out-yard 

 begins with a higher number. One book con- 

 tains the records of both apiaries for the sea- 



very annoying, as it is located only a few rods 

 from the home. And when starting for the 

 out-apiary the record-book, of course, is about 

 the first thing thought of as necessary to take 

 along. 



There is great advantage in this record- 

 book. Dr. Miller can, before starting from 

 the house in the morning, look over the col- 

 ony records in his book, and see in a Sew min- 

 utes nearly all the work needed to be done 

 that whole day. In fact, the condition of 

 each colony in his apiaries is noted in the 

 book. He can almost at once see just what 

 should be done next— the most important 

 thing that requires prompt attention — before 

 going to the apiary for personal examination. 

 And by referring to his record-books, he can 

 tell just what he has done each year with bees 

 during the past two score years or more. In 

 the picture shown, the Doctor is sitting in a 

 rocking-chair on the porch, with record-book 

 open on his lap, ready to find out just what 

 nuclei need virgin queens. After learning 

 that, we proceeded to the apiary and intro" 

 duced a number of them. 



He is also making trial of the dual method 

 of introducing queens. Suppose a nucleus 

 contains a virgin queen. Three or more days 

 before she is likely to be ready to lay, a sec- 

 ond virgin is introduced. She is put in a 

 cage something like the Miller introducing 

 cage already on the market, but with no pro- 

 vision tor the bees to release her by eating 

 out the candy. Instead of that a little ball o 

 candy is dropped right into the cage, and the 

 virgin put in with it, then the stopper is put 

 in. Just as soon as virgin No. 1 becomes a 

 laying queen she is removed from the nucleus 

 and used wherever needed. On the same visit 

 when No. 1 is removed, No. 3 is let out of the 

 cage, and at the same time virgin No. 3 is put 

 caged into the nucleus. Then when No. 3 is 



(From the Northwest) 



peot was, July 4, that even more sections 

 might be required, should white clover con- 

 tinue to yield as it had in previous best sea- 

 sons. 



Dr. Miller believes in rearing all the queens 

 for requeening his apiary and for increase, 

 from the queen whose bt-es produced the 

 largest quantity ot honey a previous season. 

 As it happened, that queen this time was a 

 hybrid. But he is requeeniug and queening 

 the increase made by the miileus method with 

 queens reared from the one mentioned. 



TWO VIEWS OF DR. MILLER'S HOME APIARY 



SOD. Each year requires a new book. Every 

 detail of each colony, and also of everything 

 connected with both apiaries, is carefully 

 noted down. Then at the end ot the season 

 it is easy to total the results, not only of each 

 colony, but of each apiary. 



A lead-pencil is attached to the book with a 

 string, and notations are made at each hive 

 as the work proceeds. Of course, there is 

 danger ot forgetting to take the book along to 

 the apiary when starting, but in the case of 

 Ihe home apiary such forgettulness is not 



(From the Southwest) 



laying she is taken out. No. 3 is released and 

 No. 4 is caged, and so on. This plan has been 

 successfully used by Editor Root, and saves 

 the usual time of introducing a fresh virgin. 



Dr. Miller likes horses also. He drives a 

 spirited team of mares in a two-seated car- 

 riage. It he were a young man we should 

 fear his taking to rate-horses. But as he is 

 now about 3 months past 74 years, he will not 

 likely be "carried away" with anything 

 faster in the horse-flesh line than he now 

 owns. One of his mares had a colt a year ago 



