October. 1913 



American l^ee Joarnal 



snow peaks above and a village be- 

 neath your feet, with the public road 

 looking like a slender white thread 

 through the green. The houses are 

 mainly built of pine wood, which is 

 never painted, but allowed to season in 

 the light and become of a dark chest- 

 nut color. The roofs extend 4 to 6 feet, 

 and even more, so that the eaves shelter 

 the sides of the building from the 

 weather, and porches are often built all 

 around, with a balustrade well shel- 

 tered from the rain. The red til eroofs 

 of a village make pretty spots in the 

 pines, when you are a mile or so above 

 them. 



We are to attend a bee-keepers' meet- 

 ing this afternoon, and I will have 

 more to say by and by. Apiaries are 

 generally small, but bee-keepers are 

 numerous, and the bee-associations of 

 Switzerland number over 10,000 mem- 

 bers. There is no doubt that they are 

 a progressive nation. They have many 

 improvements which we are only be- 

 ginning to consider in America. A 

 very important one is the State Fire 

 Insurance. No house is permitted to 

 to be built unless a stone stairway is 

 made to the upper stories as a life pro- 

 tection. Have we ever thought of such 

 a safety precaution in America ? 



Switzerland, in the summer, is a 

 wonderful tourists' resort. They are 

 there by the hundreds of thousands, 

 from all parts of the world, and it is a 

 Babel of tongues, among which Ger- 

 man. French and English are most 

 prominent. Everywhere are large 

 hotels, and every spot is arranged for 

 the convenience of the travelers. In 

 every hotel honey is served for break- 

 fast. I am told much of this honey is 

 artificial. In every instance but one, 

 however, I believe we were furnished 

 with the pure article. 



The honey crop is very small, and 

 the price is high. Fruit is a failure, 

 both in France and here, owing to the 

 late frost in May, which appears to 

 have been very general over central 

 and western Europe. America is not 

 the only country to have reverses of 

 temperature. But it is never so cold 

 here, nor so hot, as in Illinois. 



VISIT WITH MR. GUBLER. 



We have now left the hospitable roof 

 of the Boudfy Orphans' Home to con- 

 tinue our trip. It would be impossible 

 to express the hearty feeling which 

 this visit left us. Aside from the pleas- 

 ure of meeting nearly a hundred bee- 

 keepers of the Neuchatel Association, 

 and being present at a banquet in our 

 honor, we have spent with Mr. Gubler 

 several pleasant days. 



This man, who is Hearing his 78th 

 birthday, has for some 40 years been 

 the manager of an institution which 

 has proven its great usefulness. Many 

 grown men, who are now filling useful 

 positions in the vicinity, have been 

 pupils of the Home. The owner of the 

 apiary where the meeting was held, 

 and who has in connection with his 

 bees a large vineyard and all sorts of 

 fruits kept in the very best manner, 

 was a pupil of Mr. Gubler. 



One would not look for very modern 

 ideas from a man of 78. Yet Mr. Gub- 

 ler is one of the most progressive 

 thinkers I have ever met. On the way 

 to an apiary owned by a Mr. Bonhote, 



Mr. t'LRlCH GVBLER. 



to which I will again refer, he showed 

 me, on a height, a beautiful spot over- 

 looking the lake. For a long time this 

 spot, which is now covered with beau- 

 tiful villas, was neglected. In the mid- 

 dle ages the gibbet was kept there, and 

 long after the disappearance of this 

 ugly sign of human cruelty, the spot 

 retained an unpleasant renown. 



But now it is forgotten, and our good 

 friend expatiated on the diflerence in 

 methods of rendering justice between 

 the long-ago and the present. Not only 

 were many criminals put to death, but 

 they had placed the gibbet on the most 

 conspicuous spot, with the mistaken 

 idea that this frightened the criminals. 

 Now the capital punishment is abol- 

 ished in that region, and crimes are 

 almost unknown. But even where 

 capital punishment is still existing, 

 society is so ashamed of it that the ex- 

 ecution of criminals iscarriedoninthe 

 strictest secrecy. It is hardly within 

 the province of a Bee lournal to men- 

 tion these subjects, yet I cannot refrain 

 from saying that the Boudry Orphans' 



Home, as it is conducted in the open 

 country, half a mile or so from the city, 

 with all sorts of outdoor occupation, 

 such as farming, grape growing, horti- 

 culture and bee-keeping, is saving 

 many waifs from a life that might have 

 led them to crime; since orphans with- 

 out means and without guardians would 

 be in the worst possible conditions of 

 life. 



The apiary of Mr. Bonh6te, mentioned 

 at the beginning of this article, has 

 given me, better than a month of re- 

 search, a clear idea of the difference in 

 conditions between a country like 

 Switzerland and our own. This apiary 

 is located in a house, with openings on 

 all four sides. Mr. Bonhote keeps very 

 complete and accurate records of all 

 his crops and of each colony. From 

 his records for 10 years past, it is evi- 

 dent that the hives with entrance on 

 the north of the building are the most 

 successful. The reverse would be the 

 case with us. But in America, in Illi- 

 nois at least, when a warm day comes, 

 the bees are usually able to return 



