SkI'TKMBKR, 1922 



GLEANINCS TN BEK CULTURE 



577 



THE MILLER MEMORIAL 



Ho'u> it Can be Made the Finest 



and 'Best Beekeeping Library in the 



World 



By E. F. Phillips 



FOR several 

 months n o- 

 tices have 

 appeared in the 

 bee journals ask 

 ing beekeepers to 

 contribute to the 

 endowment of a 

 library of bee- 

 keeping lit era- 

 ture in honor of a man who is beloved by 

 beekeepers throughout the world, the late 

 Dr. C. C. Miller. Hundreds of contribu- 

 tions have been received and acknowledged, 

 and considerable interest has been shown in 

 this movement. The contributors have been 

 induced to send in money primarily from 

 the fact that it is a pleasure to all of us 

 to acknowledge in this way our debt of 

 gratitude to Doctor Miller. 



I should like to point out the great good 

 which the proposed library may do for the 

 advancement of beekeeping in this and 

 other countries, and in this way to show 

 the value of the movement. There are pub- 

 lished in the various countries of the civil- 

 ized world a large number of journals de- 

 voted solely to beekeeping. The Bureau of 

 Entomology receives a few of the more im- 

 portant ones from foreign countries, and 

 various college and university libraries sub- 

 scribe to some. A small number of indi- 

 vidual beekeepers are subscribers to a few 

 of them. Yet the fact remains that there 

 are probably bee journals of which not a 

 single copy comes tt) the United States, or 

 if they do come they are not kept and are 

 not available for general use. We can not 

 ignore the fact that from time to time all 

 these journals contain articles of great in- 

 terest and value, and it is a pity that there 

 is not some repository in this country in 

 which all these journals may be permanently 

 filed ready for use. This the Miller Library 

 can do with a little effort. If the library 

 were confined solely to the obtaining of bee 

 journals of the world, it would be one of 

 the finest additions to beekeeping facilities 

 that one could imagine, and would constitute 

 a worthy monument to the man whom we 

 wish to honor. 



Since the invention of printing, innumer- 

 able books have been published on bees and 

 beekeeping, how many no one knows, but it 

 runs into the hundreds and thousands. A 

 few libraries contain a considerable number 

 of the older books, especially those -which at 

 the time of publication were printed in large 

 numbers. Some college libraries have start- 

 ed collections of this kind, and there are a 

 number of individuals who, through their 

 interest in bees, have collected such books. 

 There is today no place in the country where 

 the beekeeping books are collected to a de- 

 gree which is adequate, and here again the 

 Mill<>r Library should be able to surpass nny 

 ]>rpvious effort in this line. 



I can hear some practical, hard-headed in- 

 dividual speak up and ask what good it Avill 

 do to have all this old stuff gathered to 

 getlier. We have, it is true, good practical 



books on bee- 

 keeping which 

 are quite satis- 

 factory as guides 

 for apiary work, 

 and we have 

 books wliicli go 

 into the more 

 scientific aspects 

 of the subject. 

 Yet one can scarcely read any of these older 

 books without getting something good from 

 them which is not contained in the recent 

 books. Furthermore, to understand our pres 

 ent status in beekeeping we ought to know 

 the historj' of the art, and we do not get that 

 by reading only the modern books and jour- 

 nals. For those who are engaged in work 

 for the advancement of beekeeping, famil- 

 iarity with the old literature is necessary to 

 prevent blunders. Neither will it do for us 

 to wrap ourselves in a mantle of satisfac- 

 tion and decide that American books are 

 good enough for us, totally ignoring the ex- 

 cellent work which has been done in other 

 countries. Any one with the proper enthu- 

 siasm for bees will want to know all that 

 he can about the bees and about the X)rog- 

 ress of the industry in other countries. 



I want to see the Miller Library the finest 

 and best library on beekeeping in the world, 

 and I can see no reason why in a few 

 years it may not outstrip every other li- 

 brary. I am eager for this because of the 

 interest and value of such a library, and, 

 because of a desire to see the memory of 

 our great beekeeper perpetuated through 

 the generosity of his friends. As a member 

 of the committee which has had the raising 

 of funds in hand, I deeply appreciate the 

 words that have come in the letters which I 

 have received with contributions to this 

 fund. They all breathe a spirit of love for 

 Doctor Miller, and it is a joy to get such 

 letters. They are far more valuable than 

 the contributions contained in them as an 

 indication of the admiration which bee- 

 keepers have for Doctor Miller. Yet, if T 

 may do so without see-^iing ungcaeious, I 

 think I should add that we have not done 

 half enough for this memorial. When we 

 consider the value of such a library to the 

 advancement of beekeeping, and especially 

 when we weigh the value of the life and 

 Avork of Doctor Miller to each of us, we 

 ought to dig down deeper and make this 

 library an outstanding monument. 



It is not too late for contributions to this 

 fund; in fact, it will never be too late. Since 

 the fund will be invested and only the in- 

 terest used for the purchase of books and 

 journals, the fund will be a perpetual one 

 to which additions can be made at any time. 

 A contribution of twenty dollars will yield 

 an annual income of at least one dollar, 

 which in turn will make it possible to add 

 one more bee Journal to the list of those 

 filed in this library. I believe that there 

 are a number of individual beekeepers who 

 would like to make such an addition to the 



