14 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



January 



SIXTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



By Frank C. Pellett 



DR. C. C. MILLER'S beekeeping 

 and the American Bee Journal 

 came near being twins. The 

 Journal was founded in January, 1861, 

 and on July 5, of the same year, the 

 Doctor became a beekeeper. Dr. Mil- 

 ler became a beekeeper without pre- 

 vious intent. A stray swarm passing 

 his home was hived in a barrel by 

 Mrs. Miller while he was in Chicago 

 on business. Mrs. Miller was so 

 badly stung that she was sick abed 

 as a result, and ever afterward was so 

 sensitive to stings as to prevent her 

 from having anything to do with 

 bees. Doctor Miller knew nothing 

 about bees at that time, but soon be- 

 gan to feel a great interest in the 

 colony in the sugar barrel. They 

 were wintered in the cellar and the 

 following spring he sawed away that 

 portion of the barrel which was un- 

 occupied. Later he bored holes in the 

 top of the barrel and placed a good- 

 sized box over it for surplus honey. 

 The first season he secured a swarm, 

 which was hived in a new box-hive 

 made after the directions of Quinby. 

 He also bought two swarms to be 

 hived in boxes which he furnished. 

 He thus came to the close of his sec- 

 ond season with four colonies of bees. 

 The next year he bought Quinby's 

 book and some movable-frame hives. 

 Asccording to his account in "Forty 

 Years Among the Bees," it was not 

 until 1867, when he took 131 pounds 

 of honey, worth 25 cents per pound, 

 that he found the balance on the right 

 side of the ledger. He began the 

 next year with seven colonies and 

 had $10.40 more than the total cost 

 of bees, hives and fixtures to that 

 date. His experiences were such as 

 are common to beginners everywhere. 

 There is no royal road to success in 

 beekeeping, as in other lines. He 

 speaks as follows : 



"At any rate, my friends could no 

 longer accuse me of squandering 

 money on my bees, for there was that 

 $10.40, and the time I had spent with 

 the bees was just as well spent in 

 that way as in any other form of 

 amusement. Indeed, at that time I 

 am not sure that I had much thought 

 that I was ever to get any profit out 

 of the business. Certainly I had no 

 thought that it would ever become a 

 vocation, instead of an avocation." 



It is the little things that change 

 the current of our lives. We often 

 go about looking for something big, 

 while neglecting the little things 

 which would grow big. The incident 

 of the hiving of a swarm of bees in 

 a sugar barrel, during his absence 

 from home, could hardly have been 

 looked upon as an important event in 

 his life by the Doctor. Yet, as a re- 

 sult of it, he became the world's best 

 loved, if not the world's best known, 

 beekeeper, leaving untold thousands 

 to mourn his passing when he crossed 

 the Great Divide. 



When the news came that Doctor 

 Miller was dead, it was a real shock. 

 Although we had expected it for 

 many months, we were not fully pre- 

 pared for the actual event. The senior 

 editor and he had been close friends 

 for many years. We felt that the 

 American Bee Journal, with which 

 Doctor Miller had been closely asso- 

 ciated for so many years, should give 

 an extended review of his life. None 

 of us felt equal to undertaking any- 

 thing 'of the kind just then. It seemed 

 best to make a simple announcement 

 of his passing and later, when the 

 wound was not quite so fresh in the 

 hearts of the thousands who loved 

 him, to try to pay a little tribute to 

 his memory. 



In the December, 1915, issue of this 

 Journal, appears an announcement of 

 Dr. Miller's personal recollections. In 

 that announcement, written by Mr. 

 Dadant, is given something of the 





editor's personal appreciation of the 

 work of our lamented friend. In the 

 January, 1916, number begins the 

 series of personal recollections. The 

 Doctor was rather hesitant in pre- 

 paring them. He seems to have had 

 the impression that the editor wanted 

 them to serve with an obituary no- 

 tice, and that they were to be care- 

 fully laid aside until he had passed on 

 before they were used. It was nearly 

 two years from the time he was asked 

 to write them before the letters came 

 to hand. We believe that our read- 

 ers who have kept their old Journals 

 will delight in reading again those 

 letters in the January, February and 

 March, 1916 numbers. There is not 

 much said about his beekeeping ex- 

 perience, but he gives us a peep at 

 the principal events of an interest- 

 ing life. Regarding beekeeping, he 

 wrote as follows: 



"To get a goodly sum of money for 

 a crop of honey is a pleasure. But I 

 don't think that alone would have 

 held me to beekeeping. For every 

 minute I have spent thinking of the 

 money I'd get from my bees, I've 

 spent twenty minutes — more likely 

 an hour — in studying over plans and 

 projects for improvement in the man- 

 agement of bees. And at 84 I think I 

 have just as many schemes cooking 

 as I had at 30. Most of them have 

 turned out the wrong way, but 

 enough have succeeded to be of some 

 use. I never made any great inven- 

 tion, never had the slightest thought 

 of inventing a hive; but some little 

 thing here and there, perhaps making 

 some slight change in the plans and 

 implements of others, entitles me to 

 credit some things." 



It was in 1869 that he became a 

 subscriber to the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, and in 1870 he began writing for 

 its columns. He wrote very spar- 

 ingly for many years. It was only 

 later, when he wrote from long ex- 

 perience and careful observation, 

 that he turned out copy freely. It is 

 for this reason that his writings are 

 of special value. 



At the beginning of the year 1885, 

 a "Query" department was estab- 

 lished in the American Bee Journal 

 by Thos. G. Newman, who was then 

 editor. His plan was to send the 

 questions to a number of different 

 persons who were prominent in the 

 beekeeping world. Several contribu- 

 tors would thus reply to the same 

 question. Within a few months after 

 this department was established. Doc- 

 tor Miller's name began to appear. 

 When George W. York bought the 

 Journal, in 1892, he had never owned 

 a bee. For some time previous to 

 that date -he had been employed by 

 Mr. Newman, and so was familiar 

 with the mechanical and clerical du- 

 ties of the office. Casting about for 

 expert assistance, he came more and 

 more to depend upon Doctor Miller. 

 At the beginning of the year 1894, the 

 "Question Department" was estab- 

 lished with the Doctor in charge, and 

 he continued to answer questions for 

 this Journal's readers until the time 



