r.r>i 



G r. K A N r N G S I N 15 K K C l" I. T t' K 



NOVKMBKR, 10'20 



in the control (if tlic dispjiso, ^vliicli lias chusimI 

 and is still ciiusiiii;' los^os of thousands of dollars 

 annually. The i>oint which desewcs special em- 

 phasis in an appreciation of the man is the fact 

 that the disease was virtually absent from his 

 apiary the foUowinsf year, and from that time on 

 he was not seriously troubled by it, for in one sea- 

 son he had solved the problem of European foul- 

 brood control. To the work he took an accurate 

 knowledge of the efforts and mistakes of others, 

 an appreciation of the nature of the disease and, 

 above all, a keen scientific mind. His work on 

 this disease is his greatest monument. 



To have led beekeepers in investigations ^if 

 better methods was an accomplishment, but per- 

 haps as great a service lay in his efforts to pre- 

 vent mistakes. The comb-honey era was replete 

 with bad methods, proposed in the effort to solve 

 the serious problems of the time, and no beekeeper 

 outdid Doctor Miller in pointing out the errors 

 arising from incorrect or too scant observations 

 and from faulty conclusions. He was at all times 

 tolerant, yet he could in his finished style lay 

 bare in a few words the foible* of the upstart or 

 the vicious advice of the unscrupulous. He was 

 tender with those who erred thru lack of in- 

 formation, and it sometimes takes a close observer 

 to detect his glee in the slaughter of the ungodly. 



We can continue to point out the good things 

 that Doctor Miller did, and beekeepers w'ill con- 

 tinue so to do for many years, so long as bee- 

 keeping is carried on. These things serve to make 

 clear the admiration and respect in which he is 



Dr. IMiillii.s and Dr. Miller talkin,;: it over. (.\ui;. 

 •JO, 1920.) 



iK'ld li> his fellow beekeepers. Such statemenls 

 fail, and fail utterly, to make clear the affection 

 and love in which he was held by beekeepers 

 everywhere thruout the country. I have had 

 the opportunity to speak before groups of bee- 

 keepers in most parts of the country, and it has 

 rarely been possible or desirable to close a talk on 

 bees without telling of something that Do<?tor Mil- 

 ler did for the industry. Reference to Iris work 

 and to him invariably brings forth a warm smile 

 of appreciation. A few years ago I took some 

 photographs of him in the apiary and these have 

 been used all over the country as lantern slides: 

 never have they been shown that they did not call 

 forth applause. How may we account for this high 

 esteem in which he is hold by all his fellow 

 workers ? 



The outstanding characteristic of Doctor Miller's 

 life, and the thing for which he is most loved, was 

 his keen interest in "things," as he expressed it. 

 Two weeks to the day before his death five bee- 

 keepers visited him, and of those present at that 

 happy meeting no one was younger in mind than 

 he. He told us then that he had always sup- 

 posed that as one grows old his interest in things 

 would fade away, but that on the contrary he 



foinid hiiiiself more and more interested as llie 

 \('ars pas>ed. The youthful spirit of the man is 

 illustrated by the fact that when over eighty years 

 of ase he took u)j a new line of work, the growing 

 of gladioli. .Always a lover of flowers, he began 

 this work at this ase as a specialty. He grew 

 conns for sale liy the thousands. The flowers 

 were not for sale, however, for aside from the 

 dozens of cuttinsrs in his home his best "customer", 

 as he e.\pres.sed it. was a children's hospital in 

 Chicago, to which the cut flowers were sent daily. 

 Not only was he growing these flowers on a com- 

 mercial scale, but at his advanced age he carried 

 out experiments in cross-pollination. Recently he 

 made several hundred crosses and grew the re- 

 sulting seedlings, and of the number he saved out 

 for further work over a hundred of some promise. 

 Of these he finally selected over twenty of the best 

 and he told us that he hoped from these to get 

 six or eight varieties worthy of perpetuation and 

 naming. It takes perhaps ten years to secure 

 enough corms to offer a variety for sale, but 

 this seemed not in the least to decrease his eager- 

 ness for new forms, which he could scarcely hope 

 to use commercially. His interest in these flowers 

 was so keen that he hesitated to let us, uninitiated 

 in gladioli, to find out how "crazy" he was about 

 them, and he refused to tell us what he had paid 

 for certain rare and valuable corms. This at the 

 age of ninety years 1 Such a man is one for whom 

 a person a half century younger in years can feel 

 the same friendship and affection as for one of his 

 own age. His mind was a.s young as ever: only 

 his body was old. 



To explain the heartfelt alTection in which he 

 was held by beekeepers generally would be a fool- 

 ish task for any but a master writer. In essen- 

 tial respects I have an advantage over the master 

 writers, for I knew Doctor Miller, and, too, I know 

 how beekeepers feel. I know that his death brings 

 to all of us a feeling of great and irreparable loss. 

 Yet at the same time our feeling can not be that 

 only of sorrow, for his death was but the closing of 

 a finished -life. He had finished his work, per- 

 mitted to him by the worn body that served as a 

 vehicle for his young mind, and our feeling at this 

 time can scarcely be other than one of thank- 

 fulness that he lived so long and that we were 

 privileged to know him. to learn from him and to 

 imitate him in his all-embracing desire to help 

 tho.se with w-liom he had contact. 



To put these thoughts in. words is not an easy 

 task, nor would it now be attempted were it not 

 for an assurance that the readers of these com- 

 ments will charitably say that here are stated feebly 

 what we all think: in the death of Doctor Miller 

 we have lost a dear and close friend, but we are 

 better beekeepers because of his work and better 

 men because of his life. 



Washington, D. C. E. F. Phillips. 



* * * 



VPRIGHT, STERLING LIFK. 



While away from home last week, preparing one 

 of our apiaries for winter, Mrs. Byer called me by 

 long distance phone and informed me of Dr. Mil- 

 ler's death. I was spending the evening at the 

 home of some beekeeping friends, and when I told 

 them that Dr. Miller was dead, no questions as to 

 who was meant were asked, for while there are 

 doubtless many men of that name in the land, to 

 beekeepers everywhere there was but one "Dr. Mil- 

 ler." As one of the younger men engaged in the 

 business, it was not my good fortune ever to have 

 mot the good Doctor personally, but I have had 

 a very little correspondence with him and, in com 

 mon with a great host of others, learned to lovt 

 the man for the many admirable qualities he 

 possessed. Anything I could say as to his quali- 

 ties as a beekeeper would be superfluous, as we 



