January, 1914. 



19 



American Tiee Jonrnall 



castle, we again took tlie train. This 

 time we aimed to reach the city of my 

 birth, old Langres. But a ride across 

 country to the south would have neces- 

 sitated our changing trains four times 

 in as many hours. So we returned to 

 Reims, where one of the main lines of 

 the " Est " (eastern railroad) could be 

 reached again. In this way we made 

 but one change. We took advantage 

 of the stop in Reims, where we spent 

 the night, to visit the old cathedral, 

 where the kings of France were usually 

 crowned and anointed. It was there 

 that Joan of Arc witnessed the crown- 

 ing of King Charles VII, whom she 

 had helped to regain his kingdom, in 

 1430. 



When you reach a strange city, it is 

 always more or less of a problem to 

 make sure of a good reasonable-priced 

 hotel. But we had none of this trou- 

 ble during our trip. Upon our arrival 

 in France, our good friend and prudent 

 adviser, Mr. Crepieux-Jamin, provided 

 us with a letter of introduction to the 

 "Touring Club De France," of which 

 he is one of the oldest members and 

 representatives. By his instructions 

 we called at the offices of this famous 

 organization, 65 .Avenue de la Grande 

 .'\rmee, Paris, presented our creden- 

 tials, and in 1-5 minutes we were sup- 

 plied with a card of membership, a 

 ■pretty badge, three guide books, giving 

 the names and address of the best 

 hotels in each city of France and of 

 the countries that we were about to 

 visit, with prices of rooms, meals, etc. ; 

 lists of automobile garages, addresses 

 of machinists, with prices of repairs 

 agreed upon for either automobiles or 

 bicycles, a list of the places of interest 

 in each city or around it, of the local 

 dishes and beverages of each place, 

 etc. All this for the insignificant sum 

 of !• francs 50 ($1.90). The price of 

 the subscription without guides is only 

 $1.00, and they give in addition a year 

 of the monthly magazine entitled, 

 "Touring Club De France." 



But this is not all. As a member 

 one is entitled to discounts at many of 

 the hotels, and the amount of discount 

 with a copy of contract is mentioned 

 in the Guide. Our card of member- 

 ship which I have retained, since it is 

 good for a year, bears the number 

 279,500. If you wish to travel in Eu- 

 rope, by all means secure a membership 

 in the " Touring Club De France." You 

 may also join that of Switzerland, or 

 of Italy, but do not miss the first, if 

 you can secure proper credentials. It 

 is a great satisfaction, when you reach 

 a strange place, to be able to give to 

 the railroad porter, who carries your 

 baggage, the name of the hotel you 

 have selected, to be sure that you can 

 get a room such as you desire, in a re- 

 liable house, at a stated figure, and not 

 pay exorbitant prices for your meals. 

 In addition, you are welcomed by the 

 hotel manager as a member of a pow- 

 erful fraternity of travelers. 



By the way, the hotel manager in 

 Europe is usually a very pleasant lady; 

 none of your .American hotel clerks 

 who look upon you with disdain unless 

 you wear the latest style of clothes and 

 are ready to order the very best room. 

 In fashionable hotels in America, I 

 have sometimes been made to feel that 

 the clerk was only condescending to 



permit me to remain, if 1 behaved. 

 Don't understand me as intimating 

 that all the hotel clerks are of that sort, 



but the best of them are hardly a 

 atTable as the hotel people of the Old 

 World. 



Another view of Grandpre, where Mr and Mrs. Dadant visited while in Europe. 



Contributed 



Articles^ 



The Chaff Hive 



BY DR. A. F. BONNEY. 



IN an early day before cellars for 

 bees were invented, the chaff hive 

 was in its glory; but because it 

 was a bulky affair, being made of 

 full one-inch lumber with 4 inches 

 of space between walls, it was about as 

 immovable as a house, and when bee- 

 keepers began counting their colonies 

 by the score, they looked about for 

 something lighter. 



Notwithstanding the neglect accord- 

 ed the chaff hive in years past, it is, I 

 think, the only one for the farmer, 

 small beekeeper in town, and, for that 

 matter, the professional. As I am 

 neither, I am in a position to judge, 

 and with the farmer losing his few 

 colonies every winter with the com- 

 mon hive, the man with 50 or more 

 trying to pack or cellar, and the big 

 fellow with hundreds which are taken 

 out in the spring to " spring dwindle," 

 I think there can be no argument re- 

 garding the necessity of some good, 

 safe way to winter bees, and that way 

 I know to be the chaflf hive, at any 

 rate for the small beekeeper — to avoid 

 argument. It must be remembered 

 that Mr. Holtermann, of Canada, aban- 

 doned a $1000 cellar to winter out-of- 

 doors. Why does he not use chaff 

 hives ? I suppose he has a thousand 

 of the others. 



Very few beginners have ever seen 

 such a home for the bees, and a small 

 description of it may not be amiss. 

 Briefly, a chaff hive has spaces pro- 

 tected by four walls, each packed 

 with some porous material, as chaflf, 



from which the hive got its name; the 

 finer parts of shredded cornstalks, 

 which the writer " discovered ;" ground 

 corncobs, first recommended by the 

 Root people, I think; planer shavings, 

 e.xcelsior, or even straw. The object 

 in packing is to break up the confined 

 air into small spaces, and thus prevent 

 it from circulating. There is nothing 

 inherently "warm " in either of them. 

 If one lives adjacent to a timber he 

 will find dry forest leaves one of the 

 very best things to pack with. 



But these packed walls are, I believe, 

 of secondary importance to the pro- 

 tection given the top of the hive, for 

 no matter how warm the walls, if the 

 top of the hive is cold, or if there be 

 an escape of heat upwards, the bees 

 will suffer; so when you combine the 

 packed cover, sides and ends you have 

 something approaching the bees' nat- 

 ural home in a hollow tree, a water- 

 proof cavity, open at the bottom, 

 which is, above, practically air tight, 

 and with an entrance vastly larger 

 than ever given by man, which, I think, 

 tends to give hardier bees. Moreover, 

 there is but little danger that this en- 

 trance will ever become clogged by 

 dead bees. 



There are at the present time but 

 three chaff hives on the market, and 

 those are put out by the Woodman 

 Co., the Root people, and the Falconer 

 Company. The first mentioned has an 

 outer shell of -'4 -inch lumber, and an 

 inner of ;'s. There is what is called a 

 winter rim, which, like the cover, sets 

 in a rabbet, flush with the walls of the 

 brood-chamber. It has the old "chaff 

 tray," which I never use, putting my 

 packing in the winter rim on top the 



