6 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



there might have been. 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 he came back with a l&ugh, saying: "Beg pardon. 

 I'll have to charge you 35 cents this year." At this the camera 

 clicked, and the result is shown in the accompanying photo, 

 showing him in laughing mood at 90 years of age. 



I had told him I had come to convey the best wishes of 

 my dear old father, and it gave me pleasure to tell the Doctor 

 of the joy that his letter of Aug. 7 gave to A. I. Eoot. I 

 further added that father wanted to pay him a visit, and 

 hoped that he might yet do so. I shall never forget how that 

 smile seemed to fade a little, and then how it came back 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 li^e. If I do not see him on this side, I surely shall 

 on the other side." 



The grand old man of beedom never claimed to be an in- 

 ventor. He never claimed he had any secrets, for he had none. 

 His great service to the bee world was not in discovering new . 

 things but in discovering practical methods for producing 

 more and better honey with the appliances that the beekeeper 

 already has. One would never find anything in the Doctor's 

 apiary but standard hives, standard Langstroth frames, and 

 standard equipment sold by every supply dealer in the coun- 

 try. While he did not invent, he did pick out of the mass of 

 crudities inventions that he approved. Tho Dr. Miller did 

 not claim to be an inventor, there are some things that bear 

 his name, for instance the Miller feeder and the Miller intro- 

 ducing cage. 



There is hardly a standard article sold by manufacturers, 

 and accepted by the beekeeping public today, that was not 

 passed upon by Dr. Miller before it went on the market. For 

 example, the eight and ten frame dovetailed hives were sub- 

 mitted to Dr. Miller before being introduced to the public. 

 In the same way brood-frames, self-spaciiJg frames, bee-es- 

 capes, and introducing-cages were passed before the critical 



