196 



American "Bee Janrnal j 



June, 1914. 



The resolutions jwere adopted ^by a 

 unanimous rising vote. Z~^ ., ~i 



A paper was read by Mr. Frank^F. 

 France. ; .. - : ^ B>M 



On motion, N. E. France was recom- 

 mended for the appointment of State 



Inspector of Apiaries by the Governor. 

 Mr. Frank Wilcox was recommended 

 for the appointment of judge of the 

 Apiarian E.xhibit at the State Fair. 

 Meeting then adjourned. 



GUS DiTTMER, Sec. 



Notes From ^ Ab r oad 



Bv C. P. Dadant. 



Zermatt, Neuchatel 



The trip to Zermatt, from the head 

 of Lake Geneva, is up the valley of the 

 Rhone, then up the Visp until we reach 

 the center of a cluster of snow-covered 

 mountains, of which Monte Rosa and 

 the Matterhorn are the highest. But 

 the latter is the more conspicuous, 

 owing to its sharp peak. 

 II The Rhone river which we first saw 

 at Lyon, then at Geneva, at its exit 

 from the lake, is the feeder of that 

 lake, through which it flows from east 

 to west. As we ascend eastward to- 

 wards its source, we pass through the 

 Canton of Valais. We again see vine- 

 yards, on shelves one above another, 

 meadows and small fields of grain and 

 potatoes, looking like the patches of a 

 quilt. Irrigation is practiced, for the 

 climate is dry and the water from the 

 peaks is plentiful. We see it run in 

 every direction. It is diverted into the 

 fields by side ditches, and a flat stone 

 serves to turn it right or left as needed. 

 To one accustomed to the majestic and 

 quiet flow of the Mississippi, the waters 

 of the Swiss mountains appear in a 

 great hurry, for they tumble in their 

 haste, in every direction, and we can 

 go nowhere without hearing the mur- 

 mur of the brooks. There are running 

 fountains in every village. The houses 

 seem odd, with their long eaves and 

 brown walls. The roofs are often 

 made of coarse fiat stones, laid like 

 shingles. But how they managed to 

 build some of these houses is a mys- 

 tery, for they look like eagles' nests on 

 .the mountain side. 



We reached Zermatt on Aug. 9. It 

 was cold, and we could see snow in 

 every direction. To enjoy climbing, 

 one must /rain. We took no time to 

 do this. An inclined cog road took 

 us clear up to Gornergrat, where an 

 immense hotel has been built. There 

 we stayed over night in company with 

 a dozen other tourists. The hotel was 

 supposed to be heated, but they had 

 only pine wood to fire with, and when 

 we complained of our room being 

 chilly, they excused themselves on the 

 the bad quality of their fuel. It was at 

 this hotel that, for the first time in our 

 lives, we had to pay even for the water 

 we drank. We went away the next 

 day. disgusted with the accommoda- 

 tions, but delighted with what we had 

 seen at sunset and sunrise. From the 

 top of the Gornergrat, we had been 

 shown, through a telescope, the ridge 

 line forming the Italian and French 

 frontiers, guard houses, flags, caravans, 

 of alpinists walking on the snow, things 



which, owing to the distance, did not 

 make even a speck on the immaculate 

 white of the snow, when sought with 

 the naked eye. The setting or rising 

 sun, shining on that immensity of 

 white, shading it with pink and red, 

 made an impression beyond descrip- 

 tion. Instead of 12 tourists, there 

 should have been 1200. The thou- 

 sands who come stay there only a part 

 of the day, owing to the defective ac- 

 commodations of that huge caravan- 

 sary, which they call " Hotel Gorner- 

 grat." The crowds are found below 

 at Zermatt. 



Returning to Zermatt, we stayed 

 there only long enough to visit the 

 immediate surroundings, especially the 

 Gorner Gorge. This, however great 

 and frightful, is a diminutive wonder 

 when compared with the gorges of the 

 Aare at Meiringen, which we saw later 

 in the month. 



Back to cultivated lands and warmth, 

 we landed at Brig on the 11th, where 

 we proceeded to get rested and warmed 

 up, in a very comfortable hotel. Brig 

 is near the Swiss end of the Simplon 

 tunnel. It rained and we stayed there 

 two days, at the end of which we left 

 for Interlaken, via the new railroad of 

 the Lotschberg, a beautiful scenic line, 

 just completed. Reached Spietz for 

 dinner. It rained. Went on to Inter- 

 laken. It rained that afternoon and 

 all the next forenoon. We then re- 

 solved to go back towards Lake 

 Geneva, where we had left the fair 



weather and where we had a friend to 

 visit — a relative of one of our neigh- 

 bors in the United States— living in the 

 city of Rolle. Passing through Bern, 

 Fribourg and Lausanne, we reached 

 Rolle in the evening. The rain caught 

 up with us, but had spent its force and 

 clear weather followed. 



In these trips we heard more Ger- 

 man spoken than any other tongue. 

 But it would not do to speak secrets 

 aloud, when using either French, Eng- 

 lish or Italian, for everybody seems to 

 understand everybody else. Americans 

 are so numerous that little attention is 

 paid to them. However, an American 

 family, in a touring-car with a colored 

 chauffeur, attracted the curious at Brig. 

 Evidently colored men are rare in 

 Switzerland. 



While in Rolle, the friend we were 

 visiting accompanied us to a litte town 

 up the sunny hills that beam upon the 

 lake, to visit a school teacher, who is 

 a beekeeper and an apiary inspector. 

 He had called him on the telephone 

 and announced that a foreign bee- 

 keeper wished to visit him. This api- 

 arist had bee fever, the genuine dis- 

 ease, for he awaited us eagerly and 

 could talk on but little else. He had 

 some (JO colonies, all hybrids. The hy- 

 brids of Italian and Swiss bees are 

 almost uniformly reared in French 

 Switzerland, through the slow but 

 steady importation of Italians across 

 the Alps. I have given in tlie Decem- 

 ber number my explanation of why 

 the pure Italians are not liked in Switz- 

 erland! It is useless to repeat it. 



Here I heard for the first time in 

 Europe, of European foulbrood. He 

 had had it, and ha 1 cured it in other 

 apiaries as well as in his own. He had 

 had combs containing honey from dis- 

 eased colonies accidentally robbed by 

 healthy colonies without bad results. 

 So he readily understood that our 

 method of cure by changing the queens 

 would be likely to succeed. However, 

 he practiced the starving method, re- 

 moving all the combs. According to 

 Dr. Carton, this ought to succeed in 

 any case. He thought so himself. 



He had seen the May disease, and I 

 gave him the address of Prof. White, 



Rough and Ready Bee-culture in Corsica. 



