September, 1913. 



297 



American Hee Journal 



feet at the plain up to several thousand. 

 The coolness of the climate makes 

 desirable, in cool spring or fall weather, 

 the confinement method, recommended 

 some years ago by Mr. Gouttefangeas, 

 which consists in furnishing the bees 

 good ventilation without light. This 

 method, which in a country of sudden 

 warm days like ours, would prove dis- 

 astrous in any spot except a cellar, has 



The Park Behind the Chami'Ion Home. 



been quite satisfactory. Mr. Mont- 

 Jovet has kept a colony in fine condi- 

 tion for 80 consecutive days, during 

 December, January and February, while 

 other colonies lost many bees from 

 flight in chilly weather. 



In addition to keeping bees in large 

 numbers, our friend was naturally 

 drawn to the trying of new races. His 

 proximity to Italy made it easy to im- 



Castle of Dracy. 



The ruined tower on the right liand dates back to the I2th century. Here is produced very 



fine sainfoin honey. Alfalfa, white clover, and the silver-leaf linden are also good 



yielders. The linden blooms two weeks later than the other kinds. 



port bees from there. Lately he has 

 tried the Carniolans and the Caucas- 

 ians. He prefers the Italians and the 

 Caucasians to the others, the Carnio- 

 lans swarming too freely. 



I saw in his apiary a freshly re- 

 ceived Caucasian queen which pro- 

 duces fine bees. They have a very 

 slight tinge ot yellow on the edge of 

 the abdominal rings. They are large 

 and very peaceable. They behave on 

 the combs exactly like the pure Italians. 



We are now at Geneva, a beautiful 

 spot, full of tourists, which appears to 

 me the cleanest city that I have ever 

 visited. We are going to buy a " sub- 

 scription " (they call it "abonnement") 

 to the Swiss railroads, for a month. 

 This costs 100 francs, $20, and enables 

 one to travel all over the country on 

 nearly all the railroad lines and most 

 of the lakes, without further transpor- 

 tation expense. We e.xpect to visit 

 many apiaries. Have already visited 

 several dozen apiaries in France. The 

 Dadant hive is in use even more than 

 we supposed, all through Europe, and 

 it is a pleasure to be introduced to bee- 

 keepers wherever we go, for they are 

 very demonstrative, and often seem in- 

 clined to hug us with delight. 



We have had a number of rainy 

 days, but the sky is clear now and the 

 weather warm. But the bees were 

 robbing and chasing their drones, at 

 the last apiary that we saw. 



The roads are delightful. But the 

 carriages are too heavy for any use, 



