234 



July. 1915. 



I American l^ee Journal 



dish of old Europe, ortolans, very 

 small birds, as plump and round as 

 quails. Then we were shown about 

 the little city, which is repl'te with 

 relics of olden days. It suffered a great 

 deal from religious wars during the 

 early days of the Reformation, but its 

 fortifications were finally razed by or- 

 der of Louis XIII, in the 17th Century. 

 We went back to the Pusocq late in 

 the evening. The next day, which was 

 Sunday, the president of the Gironde 

 Association of beekeepers, Mr. Lataste 

 of Bordeau.x, and two other local api- 

 arists were invited to spend the day 

 with us. After discussing bees and 

 doing honor to a fine lunch, in which 

 two special honey dishes were served 

 which had been prepared by our host 

 himself, we took a stroll in the woods 

 and visited the hunters' blind, the ring- 

 dove traps. The European wild pigeon 

 or ring-dove {Cdlumbu palumbtis) is 

 still plentiful in many parts, having 

 been protected in its breeding haunts. 

 Every fall they pass in large numbers 

 and are baited and trapped among the 

 pines of the Landes. Had our people 

 been less predacious, the clouds of 

 wild pigeons which used to migrate 

 through the United States twice a year 

 might still be in part existing. But 

 there are none left. 



The following day we went to Bor- 

 deaux, accompanied by Mr. Lataste. 

 This was to be the last of our meetings 

 with beenien. The invitation had been 

 extended to us a month previously. 

 Bordeaux is an old battle field of pro- 

 gressive beekeeping. The " Rucher Du 

 Sud-Ouest," published years ago, under 

 the management of the departed Mr. 

 Drory, h*A often engaged in argument 

 with L'Apiculteur, of Paris, in the sev- 

 enties, in favor of the new systems. 

 My father had taken sides with the 

 former. Although many of the old 

 champions have disappeared from the 

 field, after helping win an inevitable 

 victory, there are still men living who 

 remember the contest. So we had a 

 most hearty welcome among these vet- 

 erans. A banquet had been provided, 

 in a private club house, in a small park 

 of the suburbs. A monster bouquet of 



THE BROUSSEAU BOTANICAL APIARY NEAR BORDEAUX 



roses, carnations, tuberoses, gladioli 

 and asters was presented to Mrs. Da- 

 dant, with a neat speech by the presi- 

 dent, which brought moisture to her 

 eyes, so unexpected was the compli- 

 ment. 



Bordeaux has a quarter of a million 

 inhabitants, and contains many things 

 of interest. We had only a glimpse of 

 them. We visited several apiarists, 

 among them an elderly lady, the daugh- 

 ter of one of my father's old friends. 

 She still continues beekeeping, and we 

 exchanged reminiscences. 



At the apiary of Mr. Brousseau, I 

 was shown a movable-frame hive \yith 

 frames rounded at the bottom in imi- 

 tation of the shape of a bee cluster. 

 The nearest practical hive that I have 

 seen to this ideal is the patent hive of 

 Dr. Tonelli, an Italian, the man who 

 invented the original steam-heated un- 

 capping knife. Mr. Brousseau culti- 

 vates hundreds of exotic honey plants 

 in his garden. It is a botanical api- 

 arist garden of great interest. 



In the afternoon of the second day. 



Au Rucher de rOaciaie 



l.ulti.>t .ni«i.,vc iz 1 ."Lbccllt ^ .MItL. CIKE ei DtKIVtS 

 GUIGNAKD & QUINTAA, .Ifinlumi 



AN AFIAKY NKAK BORDEAUX. FRANCE 



in company with a most entertaining 

 and intelligent young priest, we went 

 out of the city to visit the most cele- 

 brated vineyard of Bordeaux, the 

 Haut-Brion. They were harvesting the 

 grapes. The quantity did not compare 

 with similar crops which we had seen 

 in California, but whereas the Califor- 

 nia grapes sell for wine at $10 to $14 

 per ton, the wine of this vineyard was 

 engaged for ten years ahead at a price 

 which would represent about $1400 per 

 ton for the grapes. Although we tasted 

 the wine, I acknowledge that its high 

 value was unappreciated by me. I be- 

 long to the uninitiated in this line. In 

 Bordeaux such a lack of taste amounts 

 almost to a sacrilege. 



The last apiary we visited was that of 

 the president, Mr. Lataste. He has a 

 large industrial establishment in the 

 suburbs and keeps his 40 or 50 colonies 

 in the backyard. He is proving by 

 facts that one can produce large crops 

 of honey in the outskirts of a large 

 city, even in as thoroughly cultivated a 

 country as France. He uses ruberoid 

 for honey-boards and also for hive 

 roofs. But the best roof I have seen is 

 the asbestos-cement roof of Couterel, 

 mentioned above. 



On the morning of Oct. 1, we took 

 the "Limited "for Paris and sped to- 

 wards that city at 55 miles an hour. 

 At Poitiers, or about half way, we had 

 a ten minute stop. We had wired the 

 hour, at his request, to our friend Mr. 

 Prieur, editor of the " Revue Eclec- 

 ticjue," whose portrait has been pub- 

 lished in our May, llIKi, number. We 

 recognized him at once in the crowd 

 at the station. His pockets were bulg- 

 ing with sundry articles, local views 

 and samples of different sorts of 

 honey candies, which he compelled us 

 to accept. The candy was excellent, 

 and I managed to preserve a quart box 

 of it for the meeting of our National 

 Association at St. Louis the February 

 following. I believe it was appreciated. 

 I have secured the recipe and will give 

 it at some future time. The ten min- 

 utes were soon spent, and we sped 

 away once more, after a hearty hand- 

 shake. We landed in Paris shortly 

 after dark. 

 Another letter will conclude our 



