September, 1914. 



ceptember. 1914. 



^^^^ ^Amgrican Hee Jonrnal 



^Amgrican "Bee ^onrnS^^P^ 



There Was a Jolly Crowd at^the Deilotnes, Iowa, Field Meet on July 16 



and supers which enable^ us to secure 

 our large crops ? 



We did not ask how much honey 

 they extract in a day. Neither did we 

 dare tell them how much zve extract, 

 for fear of unbelief. Labor being 

 cheap, time is no object, in Switzer- 

 land, and we often saw a whole family 

 of seven or eight, men, women and 

 children, exceedingly busy in an acre 

 of wheat. What would t icy say if they 

 saw our 40-acre fields cut by one man, 

 with two or four horses, and a binder, 

 in three or four days ? But the Swiss 

 raise fine grain, and whatever they do 

 is done well. 



While in Zurich we were more than 

 once sorry of not being able to speak 

 German. But we found enough people 

 who spoke French or English fluently 

 to get along fairly well. 



We had a most enjoyable visit, for 

 all these people treated us with wonder- 

 ful hospitality, as well in fact as if they 

 had known us for years. With the 

 French Swiss, we rather expected a 

 hearty welcome, for we had already a 

 mutual acquaintance, and were not 

 disappointed. But the hearty recep- 



tion of the German Swiss was espe- 

 cially appreciated, since it was unex- 

 pected. 



On our return from the mountain we 

 met the renowned Dr. Kramer, the 

 president of the German- Swiss Bee 

 Association, who was thought by his 

 friends to be still on his summer vaca- 

 tion in the Engadine. He made us 

 promise to visit him the next morning. 

 We did. 



Dr. Kramer is a strong personality. 

 He has been called by critics " the Czar 

 of Swiss bee-culture." He is the posi- 

 tive head of a strong association. At 

 the last report received by us, it num- 

 bered 9543 members, divided into 110 

 sections. This is aside of the Societe 

 Romande of western Switzerland. They 

 have 36 experiment stations. But these 

 contained only 64 colonies in all, too 

 small a number for practical compara- 

 tive experiments. 



They also have a mutual insurance 

 against foulbrood in which 121,702 

 colonies are insured. They have paid 

 in losses about $4000, with about $360 

 left in their treasury, and the sum paid 

 per colony for insurance annually is 



only one cent. Their association had 

 on Dec. 31, 1912, a capital of 41,480 

 francs, or practically $8000. They had 

 in addition a relief fund of 7055 francs 

 ($1350) to indemnify the members who 

 suffer from disaster, floods, avalanches, 

 etc., common in Switzerland. This is 

 an admirable organization of which 

 the Swiss may well beproud.and which 

 we ought to imitate. 



As might be expected, Dr. Kramer 

 had much to say to me concerning the 

 improvement of races, for he knew that 

 my aim was to investigate this matter. 

 He is entirely opposedto the introduc- 

 tion of the Italian bee, and says they 

 are unfit for the clihiate of Switzer- 

 land. He is satisfied that their mating 

 stations, in narrow isolated valleys are 

 preparing great progress. I suggested 

 that a propaganda for the removal of 

 drone-comb from inferior or undesir- 

 able colonies and the replacing of it 

 with worker-comb would help greatly 

 in preventing undesirable mating s. 

 But he assured me that the mass of 

 beekeepers were not progressive 

 enough for that work. 



Dr. Kramer believes in in-and-in 



breeding to emphasize the qualities of 

 a race, and it is in this direction that 

 the efforts of the mating stations are 

 bent. To my argument that nature 

 seeks cross-fertilization, he replied by 

 giving the instance of wheat and other 

 cereals as self-fertilizers. 



However, not all the beekeepers 

 agree with this. Neither is their breed- 

 ing of the pure black race of bees uni- 

 form. I saw more or less mixture of 

 Italians wherever I went. Mating sta- 

 tions as now existing are objected to 

 by many on account of insufficient 

 isolation which prevents the positive 

 control of matings. Mr. Spuhler, who 

 is a very experienced beekeeper, as- 

 sure'd me that he had known of mat- 

 ings at a distance of 6 kilometers. As 

 this is only 3^4 miles, there is nothing 

 astonishing about it. [See the article 

 from Mr. Spuhler on page 311. — Ed.] 



You will now have to follow us in a 

 tourist excursion. On the evening of 

 Aug. 25, we went to Neuhausen, near 

 Schaffhouse, at the famous falls of the 

 Rhine. We have seen Niagara Falls, 

 the falls of the Yellowstone and the 

 Yosemite, which are all greater in 



some way than the falls of the Rhine. 

 Yet the latter have a peculiar beauty all 

 their own and we lingered there, came 

 back to them after leaving them and 

 lingered again. We could have re- 

 mained there a week and enjoyed their 

 grandeur. The on'y thing that mars 

 them is what we find at Niagara Falls, 

 factories with industrial use of a part 

 of the water. Nothing of this sort yet 

 exists either at the Yellowstone or at 

 the Yosemite. These will probably re- 

 main wild in spite of the ambition of 

 electrical engineers. The greatness of 

 the canon of the Yellowstone places 

 this fall at the head of all. 



The big castle at the Rhine Falls has 

 been put to mercenary uses. It is con- 

 trolled by venders of trinkets and 

 souvenirs of all descriptions. That sort 

 of thing is objectionable, and the gov- 

 ernment ought to take the matter in 

 hand. The beauties of nature should 

 belong to the public without hin- 

 drances. 



Back towards the south we came and 

 landed at Lucerne. Stopped at the 

 Alpina hotel, where the usual breakfast 

 of coffee, milk, butter and honey was 



served to us. I have not yet said any- 

 thing about the quality of Swiss honey. 

 It was a bad year in which to judge it. 

 The only places where we saw really 

 white honey were at the hotels, and we 

 were told that in many cases it was a 

 manufactured article. But it was good, 

 and I would have accepted it aa pure in 

 most instances. The honey crop of 

 1913 was dark and strong. But the 

 price is high, something like 16 to 25 

 cents per pound for extracted honey. 



We took a long carriage ride around 

 Lucerne. Saw several monoplanes 

 flying about, for they have a large avia- 

 tion field, and you can get a half hour 

 ride for $20. we were told. Much as 

 we would like to fly, it did not tempt us. 

 We thought the country most beautiful. 

 Small house apiaries caught our eye 

 frequently. Everything is neat and 

 everything was full of bloom. Economy 

 shows everywhere. They save all the 

 chips, all the tree roots for fuel, and 

 one cannot see dead trees rotting in 

 the woods as in America, They make 

 bedding for their stock, and manure 

 out of all the weeds and the low-land 

 grasses. After leaving Switzerland we 



