April, 1915. 



125 



American IS^ee Joarnal j 



cousins of my wife and the old home 

 of her father. He was born there in 

 1814, or 101 years ago, went to Paris in 

 1832, was married there and came to 

 America in 1847. Our friends had not 

 been idle, and they had gathered suffi- 

 cient information to at once find two 

 lemaining relatives, married ladies with 

 families, who greeted us heartily. The 

 family birthplace, we were informed, 

 was at the upper edge of the cliff, in 

 the old part of the city. A carriage 

 was secured and we began ascending 

 tortuous, nariow streets, paved with 

 cobblestones. The old stone houses 

 with their narrow, grated, iron-framed 

 windows, looked more like dilapidated 

 jails than homes. Yet the stirring, 

 ragged urchins which filled these open- 

 ings, or sat on the stone steps, gave an 

 idea of intense life. 



This was so unlike our own country 

 that my wife was greatly moved, in the 

 expectancy of finding herfather's birth- 

 place in such ugly surroundings. But 

 we were pleasantly surprised, for the 

 house, though small, proved to be airy 

 and beautifully located at the top of 

 the hill, with a fine view of the city and 

 the bay. From this point we could see 

 the port, the sea baths and the Trajan 

 arch (Arco Trajano), erected in the 



year ll.'j, in commemoration of the 

 mole or jetty built by this emperor, 

 and still in use. The arch is of marble 

 and well preserved. 



In this old city, as elsewhere in It::ly, 

 the children are numerous and happy, 

 the men handsome, the women pretty. 

 Almost all of them have black eyes, 

 heavy black or auburn hair, and amber 

 velvety skin, due to the warm sun of a 

 country where frosts are almost un- 

 known. 

 . On the morning of Sept. 13, we took 

 leave of our kind friends, to continue 



our trip, henceforth turning our faces 

 towards the setting sun and slowly de- 

 creasing the distance between us and 

 our home. 



Since writing the foregoing, I have 

 found, in the 1885 volume of the 

 "Revue Internationale," the mention of 

 finding, at Bex, Switzerland, 14 death- 

 head moths gorged with honey, in a 

 hive which had been abandoned by the 

 bees. In the same article is found a 

 letter from Francois Burnens, the 

 famous helper of Huber, to his master 

 on this subject. 



Convention ^ Proceedings 



Glimpses of the National Meeting at 

 Denver 



The Denver meeting was very suc- 

 cessful in many ways. The delegates 

 from the East were given a glimpse of 

 western beekeeping, and can better 



FRONT OK THE COLORADO HONEY PRODUCERS' ASSOCIATION STORE 

 DURING "NATIONAL" WEEK 



appreciate the view point of the bee- 

 men of the mountain country. 



Living in the mountains has, perhaps, 

 given these westerners a large horizon, 

 and they deal with problems of honey 

 production in a large way. They num- 

 ber their colonies by hundreds and 

 even by thousands, and count their 

 production by tons and carloads. It is 

 not to be wondered at, if they get the 

 idea that those of us further East who 

 have but a hundred or two colonies 

 and produce but a few thousand pounds 

 of honey are amateurs. 



However, they are big hearted fel- 

 lows and did everything possible to 

 make our stay pleasant. Automobile 

 trips to the mountains and to the vari- 

 ous apiaries within reach were among 

 the most interesting features. The 

 writer had the pleasure of being a 

 member of one of the parties to enjoy 

 a trip with Mr. Herman Rauchfuss to 

 one of his apiaries, and following that, 

 a ride to Morrison, and a most won- 

 derful trip of 15 miles into the moun- 

 tains along a very pretty little strea.ii 

 that seemed to persist in running up- 

 hill. Nothing seems just right to a 

 man from the East. The high altitude 

 and the clear atmosphere upset all his 

 calculations. A mountain that looks 

 to be but a few miles distant, he is as- 

 sured is 50 or maybe a hundred miles 

 away. At times the irrigating ditches 

 and even the streams seem to be run- 

 ning upgrade, and he cannot figure out 

 how it is that his eyes deceive him so. 



One afternoon the National ad- 

 journed to give the Colorado beekeep- 

 ers an opportunity to hold a business 

 session, and the whole bunch of visi- 

 tors went to Golden and to the top of 

 Lookout mountain. While it was a 

 wonderful trip, we were in the hands 

 of an excursion company who appar- 

 ently had no thought except to get us 

 back as quickly as possible. Little op- 

 portunity was offered to enjoy particu- 

 larly interesting scenery. The winding 

 ride up the narrow mountain road 

 where a single careless turn on the 

 part of the driver would dash the whole 

 party hundreds of feet down the slope, 

 together with the fascinating views of 

 peak and gulch, gave a variety of sen- 

 sations to the tenderfoot from the 

 East. When the descent began, sev- 

 eral of the visitors felt strange sensa- 

 tions in the back of the neck and the 



