XoVK.Mf.KK, 19'JO 



G L K A N I X G S I N 15 K K C V I. T U K E 



FRIENDS PAY TRIBUTE 



To the Memory of that Great Beekeeper and Friend of All Beekeepers 



the Late Dr. C. C. Miller 



FEOM beekooj)<.'rs ovorywhcrc h.-ixc couk' cxprossioiis of (i('ej)est sorroAV and legict 

 because of the tli^afli of the \ fiici;il>lr imd venerated 1)v. C. C. Miller, whose beautiful 

 spirit departed tliis world at Iiis home at ]\rarengo, III., in the early nioruing of Se]»t. 

 4, 1920. The news of his death eauie to these friends with a peculiar sense of sorrow. It 

 meant the loss not only of a friend and counselor but of a truly great character and great 

 heart. It was as if a loved and loving fatlier had risen suddenly from the family circle 

 about the evening fireside, and gone out into the night to return no n!oie. Tiie heart ached, 

 the memory longingly wandereil back over tlie ])ath of the years they Jiad so jileasantly 

 walked together. 



Now these friends of Dr. Miller come to pay tribute to one who was truly tlicir guide, 

 Itliilosopher and friend. 



I.IKK AND WORK OF DR. MII.I.KR. 



Thp life and work of Dr. ('. C. Miller wore a 

 lieiielit to the beekeeping of America and of the 

 whole world which can be measured accurately 

 only in after years. Those of us who have had 

 the pleasure of laboring; in this field while he was 

 making his contributions to the science and art 

 of beekeeping know well that in many ways we 

 are indebted to him, but it will take time for the 

 proper weighing of his life in terms of helpful- 

 ness to feliow-beekeepers. One can now do no 

 more than to express feebly a sense of persona! 

 loss and to tell a few of the more outstanding 

 benefits from his work. One thing is clear: there 

 has been no beekeeper of the past half century 

 who was his superior. 



Beginning in 1861 and until his death, Doctor 

 Miller was interested in bees, a record of prolonsed 

 activity in this vocation rarely if ever equalled. 

 Since 1878 it was his sole business. Naturally his 

 earliest beekeeping was unimportant, but in 1870 

 he made his first contribution to the beekcppins 

 press, and for fifty years his writings have formed 

 an important part of our literature. Even the 

 I'ditors of the bee journals have not conlriUutod 

 more to the current literature than did he and 

 probably he wrote more " copy " thai\ did any 

 other writer of the time. His writings aic (lis 

 tinguished by accurate diction, clarity, humor, and 

 sympathy. 



To discuss in detail the investigations that Doc- 

 tor Miller carried on in beekeeping would virtu- 

 ally be to write a history of beekeeping of the past 

 lialf century, for there have l>oen no important 

 discoveries or events of that period in which he 

 did not play some part. He began Ijeekeepin-i 

 before the days of the comb-honey section and lived 

 until the time when extracted honey largely re- 

 I)laccd comb honey. The period of comb-honey jiro- 

 ductioiL brought forth the keenest work in ice 

 ki'cjiing practices of any period in beekeeping, foi' 

 all the problems aie greatly intensified in r-omb- 

 honey production. Naturally we do not give to 

 Doctor Miller credit for all the brilliant work of 

 this period, but all must admit that no man of the 

 time made more imiiorlant contributions to comli 

 honey production than did he. 



In his first book. "A Year Among the Bees," lie 

 recognizes the two great problems of that and of 

 the present day as follows: "If I were to meet a 

 man perfc-l in the entire science and art of bcc 

 keeping, and were allowed from him an answer 

 to just one question, I would hesitate somewhat 



whether to ask him about swarming or wintering. 

 I think, however, I would finally ask for the best 

 and easiest way to prevent swarming, for one who 

 is anxious to secure the largest crop of comb 

 honey." His later books contain almost the same 

 phrasing, except that he omits mention of the 

 winter problem, indicating clearly that during th.e 

 comb-honey period swarm control stood out above 

 all other problems in importance. In the brilliant 

 work on this subject he had no superior and to 

 his work we go for the methods which finally won 

 out. However, comb-honey production, a,iul the 

 small colonies incident to the beekeeping methods 

 of that period, brought on the wintering problem 

 acutely, and in this work also he excelled. .\ 

 careful study of his writings reveals a knowledge 

 of the needs of the bees during the winter, and his 

 results were better than those of most otiier Lee- 

 keepers of the time. 



Altho comb honey is ])assiug, until recently 

 Doctor Miller continued to produce it, and as late 

 as 1913 (at the age of 8?.) he broke all records of 

 per colony jiroduction of sections. But even at 

 his advanced age he did not stick tenaciously to 

 his old methods, for during the past few years, 

 altlio reducing the size of his apiary, he took 

 up the production of extracted honey. We can not 

 |)aint an adequate picture of the character of the 

 man, but we get an illuminating .sidelight in the 

 fa<-t that Ih; took up this new line, not to make 

 his work easier, not because others were producin,' 

 extracted honey, but because he might thereb.\ liclii 

 to make honey a more freely used food on the 

 table of the average family. 



The more recent changes in beekeei)ing methods 

 in no way reduced the importance of Doctor Mil- 

 lers work and influence. One of the mo.st im 

 portant, if not the most important, contributions of 

 his life came late in his experience. In 1909 

 (one is tempted to say fortunately — for beekeepers) 

 Kuropean foul brood broke out viruleiuly in his 

 apiary. Up to that time various methods had been 

 advocated for it.s control, but there was no agree- 

 ment on the subject and virtually no progress was 

 being made. Doctor Miller's location is not one 

 In which this disease would continuously do seri- 

 ous damage, but thru a, total failure in tlin 

 white clover honey crop that year his apiary be- 

 came heavily infected, giving him abundant ex- 

 perimental material. The work which he did that 

 summer and the r;ii-cfu| rei-ord which lie month 

 by nionlh laid before the beekeepers thru the 

 journals form the basis for the first real progress 



