O.TilHKK litjil 



(J I. K A N I N (i S r \ R K K C T 1. T T I; K 



AG K E A T 

 voice h a s 

 been still- 

 ed; but those 

 bright jmd bree- 

 zy sayings from 

 tiie Sage of Ma- 

 rengo, a i \v a y s 

 1 a b e 1 e il witli 

 smiles, will live 

 after. Such a life ean 

 that is earthly of Dr. (,'. ('. Miller passed 

 away on Sept. 4. 



When he was obliged to give up his de- 

 partment of Stray Straws some months 

 ago, on aeeount of a severe sickness and 

 his advanced age, there came a feeling over 

 me that J must see him once more before 

 he passed from the scenes of earth, feel 

 liis handshake, and see tliat face so beam- 

 ing with smiles. 



As I was scheduled to be present at a 

 Chautauqua held at Madison, Wis., on Aug. 

 16 to 20, I decided that on my return I 

 would pay Dr. Miller a visit between trains, 

 during which I would take some more pic- 

 tures of him; for I felt sure that the bee- 

 keeping world would want to see him in his 

 ninetieth year. On arriving at the Chau- 

 tauqua I told Dr. E. F. Phillips that I pur- 

 posed to go and see the man who wrote 

 Stray Straws, and asked him if it would 

 not be possible for him and Mr. Demuth 

 to go along with me. Precisely that thought 

 was in the minds of both of these men, 

 and we were not long in making up a little 

 party to motor from Madison to Marengo. 

 This party was made up of Dr. E. F. Phil- 

 lips, Geo. S. Demuth, H. F. Wilson, and the 

 writer. 



We had expected to see Dr. Miller show- 

 ing his age, and that the once virile face 

 and form would be infirm with years; but 

 we were agreeably surprised to see ap- 

 jiarently the same man with the same vigor 

 of body and mind that I had seen 35 years 

 ago. He seemed to be at his very best, 

 and members of our party all agreed that 

 his min<l was as alert and keen as ever. 

 I think the average person would have said 

 that he was not over 7<>, and proba^jly along 

 in his 60 's. 



But that wonderful smile that betokened 

 the hai»i>y nat\ire within must have ciimfiu 

 thjgetl whatever of bodily infirmity there 

 might liave lieen. And surely there was 

 some, because he died just two weeks to a 

 day after our visit. I said, "Doctor, I'd 

 give 20 cents for a picture or two of you;" 

 and instantly lie came back with a laugh, 

 saying: '"Beg pardon. I'll have to charge 

 you .'i.5 cents this year." At this the camera 

 cliiked. and the result is shown on the 

 cu\er i>age of this Gleanings. 



I had told him I h;id i-ome to convey 

 the best wishes of my dear old father, and 

 it gave me jdeasure to tell the Doctor of 

 the joy that his letter (jiublisheil on page 

 ()24 of this issue) gave to .\. I. Root. I 

 further ad<led that father wanted to pay 



DR. C. C. MILLER 



Personal Reminiscences of the Edit- 

 or, who had Known him for Nearly 

 Forty Years 



By E. R. Root 



lot dii-; but al 



liiin il visit, twii] 

 li o ]) e d that he 

 might yet do so. 

 T shall 11 e \ e r 

 forget how tlint 

 siiiil(> seemed to 

 fade a 1 i t t 1 e, 

 and t h e n how 

 it (' a 111 e h a c k 

 with its wonted 

 sweetness in these words: 



"I should dearly love to see your father 

 again, for he and I are about the only ones 

 left of the old group. But tell him he must 

 come soon, as sometimes I think I have not 

 many days to live. If I do not see him on 

 this side, I surel.y shall on the other side." 

 As he said that, the camera clicked again. 

 I took of him that day some two or three 

 dozen pictures, and in future issues I hope 

 to show more of them, as it will take a 

 good many pictures to show the many sides 

 of this wonderful man. 



At tliis time I wish to give a few per- 

 sonal reminiscences, beginning with the 

 time I made my initial bow to the beekeep- 

 ers iiKthe early 80 's, or about the time that 

 my father 's health broke down and his 

 editorial mantle was thrown on me. It 

 was at that time I needed the help both 

 of my father and of Dr. Miller. I needed 

 Dr. Miller because father's enthusiasm was 

 fast drifting toward gardening and green- 

 hoiises and other like pursuits; but not so 

 with Dr. Miller. I remember how, after I 

 had come back from a trip among the bee- 

 keepers of New York, I thought I had 

 gathered some new ideas. I had felt that 

 the hives and appliances we were then mak- 

 ing would have to be modified to fit com- 

 mercial beekeeping not only on a large but 

 on a small scale. For example, I became 

 satisfied that father's beveled edge of the 

 Simplicity hive and the metal-corner frame 

 would have to give way to the square edge 

 and the all-wood frames that were then 

 coming into use. Naturally father was 

 conservative. To settle the question we 

 agreed to call in Dr. Miller. To make a 

 long story short, the dovetailed hive was 

 first launched on the market in 1889. Slow- 

 ly it crowded out all its competitors until 

 it is now the standard of all the hixi'-iiiaiiu 

 faiturers in the country. 



In those early <lays 1 needed Dr. Miller's 

 help again in iaunching the thick-top frame. 

 In fact, Dr. Miller had proposed it to me 

 himself, saying that it was a great step 

 forward, as it would effectually rid the hive 

 of burr-comb, and it did. With Dr. Miller's 

 support I put this in the catalog, and now 

 the thick-to]) frame is in almost unixH'rsal 

 use among beekeej)ers. 



About this time, also, I advocated self 

 s|iacing frames, and especially Hofliiiaii 

 frames. Here Dr. Miller expressed his 

 doubts. He later came to see the value of 

 the self-spacing feature in the form of nails 

 as s]>acers; but he never really accepted 

 the Hoffman frame, now in general use. 



