1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



323 



THE C. C. MILLER FUND 



I have your letter asking my opin- 

 ion about continuing the time for sub- 

 scriptions for the Miller Memorial 

 Fund. I am very much in favor of 

 going on vi^ith this for some time, and 

 can best explain my reasons for this 

 by telling you what I think should be 

 done with this fund. The amount so 

 far subscribed is inadequate to estab- 

 lish a memorial fitting to a man like 

 Doctor Miller, and I know of few 

 things that can be done for beekeep- 

 ing that will do more than a real 

 working establishment to perpetuate 

 the memory of this great beekeeper. 



What I hope for is this: The first 

 choice would be a fellowship or schol- 

 arship for research in beekeeping in 

 some great university, but as we will 

 probably not be able to get funds for 

 that, the second choice would be to 

 found a library of beekeeping litera- 

 ture in some university in which could 

 be gathered together the literature ot 

 the world on beekeeping. We have 

 no such libi-ary at present in America. 

 Such a library could be founded at 

 first by contributions from authors 

 and editors of practically all the pres- 

 ent literature, and the income from 

 the principal would be used every 

 year to buy current books and jour- 

 nals and to buy up complete files of 

 the various journals, reprints of sci- 

 entific articles on beekeeping and the 

 older books on the subject. Even if 

 not to exceed $100 annually were 

 available, this would in time probably 

 make this the greatest library of the 

 kind in the world, and, of course, the 

 larger the fund the better the library 

 would be. I am in favor of placing 

 the fund with some trust company 

 for investment, so that for all time 

 the money would be working for the 

 betterment of beekeeping, for I know 

 that such a memorial would better 

 please Dr. Miller than a transient 

 thing like a monument. His constant 

 aim was to help his fellow beekeep- 

 ers, and no memorial which does not 

 do that will fit the character of the 

 man whom we take pleasure in hon- 

 oring. 



The amount of money now at hand 

 is scarcely one-fourth enough for the 

 smallest library, but I feel sure that 

 this amount is not all that you will 

 receive. If the subject can be brought 

 to the attention of the beekeepers at 

 the various associations, large contri- 

 butions will be forthcoming. Fur- 

 thermore, I feel certain that there 

 are still many who want to contribute 

 who have merely overlooked it. Those 

 who have profited financially because 

 of the beekeeping work of Doctor 

 Miller are myriad, and there is the 

 still larger group of beekeepers who 

 are better men and women because 

 of the life of the man, and they will 

 want to have a part, even though it 

 be a small one, in this movement. 



It virill probably help materially if 

 the beekeepers can be assured that, if 

 possible, the fund will be invested in 

 some way which will be a benefit to 

 the beekeeping industry. The com- 

 mittee having this in charge has, up 

 to the present, not been able to an- 

 nounce what would be done, because 

 of the uncertainty of the amount that 



would be available, and even at this 

 time it is impracticable to make a 

 definite statement. I feel sure, how- 

 ever, that if we can promise that the 

 money will be used in some way that 

 will be a perpetual benefit, many con- 

 tributions will be increased and later 

 contributions will be much more 

 numerous. I, for one, am anxious 

 for the kind of memorial which I 

 have here outlined, and shall use my 

 influence to this end. I shall be wil- 

 ling to agree to whatever is the most 

 practical, provided that the most use- 

 ful thing can be decided upon. Of 

 course, I am only one of five on the 

 committee, and am not attempting to 

 dictate the policy, but am merely 

 stating my personal beliefs and pref- 

 erences in the matter. 



Subscriptions to the fund are be- 

 ing requested by foreign bee jour- 

 nals, one as far away as South Africa, 

 and if beekeepers of other lands are 

 anxious to honor the memory of Doc- 

 tor Miller, then it seems to me that 

 those of us who were nearer to him 

 should do our level best to make this 

 worth while. In view of these cir- 

 cumstances, I look for a considerable 

 increase in the fund soon. 

 Sincerely yours, 



E. F. Phillips. 



SHOULD EVERY FARMER KEEP 

 BEES? 



By T. C. Johnson 



I read the article on page 234 of 

 the June American Bee Journal, by J. 

 H. Tichenor. I was a farmer myself 

 when I started to keep bees, and i 

 hived my first swarm in a nail keg; 

 but I was not long getting in touch 

 with some one that knew more about 

 bees than I did. I got on the right 

 track and subscribed for a good bee 

 journal and also bought some good 

 bee books. A soap box and a r.ail keg 

 won't do for me — nothing but a 

 movable-frame hive and combs built 

 from full sheets of comb foundation. 



If every farmer would do as I did, 

 or better, I would feel just like Mr. 

 J. H. Tichenor does, I would say yes, 

 every farmer should keep bees. I 

 have helped a lot of my neighbors to 

 get started right and I am not afraid 

 to help others, with the fear that they 

 will put me out of business or flood 

 the market with honey. I have in- 

 spected bees in Indiana for over three 

 years and I know that the State is 

 spending thousands of dollars to get 

 rid of disease, and the biggest help to 

 get rid of it is to get rid of the cross- 

 comb hives. I find farmers, every 

 day, who are hiving bees in anything 

 that has a hole in it; all the way from 

 drain tiles to cider barrels. I even 

 saw one farmer trying to hive a 

 swarm in a lard can, but the sides 

 were so smooth that the bees could 

 not stick, which was a good thing. 

 Now if Mr. Tichenor had explained 

 what a farmer should do to keep bees 

 in the right way and what the law 

 requires in that line, I would have 

 said Amen to his article. But unless 

 we get rid of the box hive or old gum, 

 as most farmers call it, we will never 

 get rid of foulbrood. If bees are 



worth keeping they are worth keeping 

 right. I have met farmers who had 

 everything on the farm that was 

 needed to run it, and a big automo- 

 bile to go pleasure riding, but their 

 bees were in old boxes with old dirty 

 sections on top with mice, roaches, 

 and most anything else. When told 

 to get new hives, they cannot afford 

 it. It would simply be throwing 

 money away to pay $1 per pound for 

 foundation, when, if used properly, 

 it would make $5 for $1. There are 

 but very few places on the farm 

 where a man can spend $1 and get 

 back $5 in return, saying nothing 

 about the benefit the bees are to his 

 fruit and plants. 

 Indiana. 



SALT FOR BEES 



By Harold L. Kelly 



In reference to recent articles ap- 

 pearing in the American Bee Journal 

 in regard to bees liking salt, I would 

 like to cite an experience at my api- 

 ary. 



A neighbor inquired if bees liked 

 salt, stating that a portion of the gar- 

 den had been sprinkled with salt to 

 kill weeds, and that the ground was 

 thick with bees. 



Upon investigating, I found condi- 

 tions as stated by my neighbor. The 

 entire garden was still wet from re- 

 cent rains, but the bees were only 

 on the patch that had been salted. 



It was not necessary for them to 

 come to this particular spot for water 

 alone, as there is a stream not three 

 hundred feet from the apiary from_ 

 which they have always obtainea' 

 water. 



To satisfy myself as to whether 

 they liked salt, I placed in the yard 

 a pan of wet sand in which two hand- 

 fulls of salt had been sprinkled. It 

 was frequented by the bees until it 

 dried out. 



I notice that when getting water at 

 the stream, they work on the wet 

 sands, and not at the water's edge. 

 Is it not possible that they get salts 

 that wash from the earth and settle 

 in the sands, that could not be had if 

 they took water direct from the 

 stream? 



Maryland. 



BOILED HONEY FOR CAGES 



By D. T. Glaster 



Boiling honey to make candy for 

 mailing queens is no bad thing. It 

 should be boiled in a double boiler 

 with but little water, and boiled until 

 all the water is boiled out and until 

 the honey is thick vidth a heavy body, 

 and then you can get more of it in 

 the candy and the candy will net dry 

 out or get too soft. Otherwise in a 

 damp time it will get soft and stick 

 up the bees, and in a dry time it will 

 get hard and dry and let the bees 

 starve. I have been using boiled 

 honey ever since the postoffice de- 

 partment required it. The first two 

 or three years I had some trouble 

 with it until I boiled it until it be- 

 comes thick, and the thicker the 

 better. 

 North Carolina. 



