October, 1914. 



American l^ee Journal 



)^^^^ii 



the next morning there was nothing 

 left for the bees to work on. The 

 frames were gathered up and burned. 



The way those pigs put on fat was a 

 delight to the owner. I do not know 

 whether this would ligure out as a 

 profitable venture, but it saved a dis- 



agreeable job of melting combs and 

 honey. 



[We should be very much afraid of a 

 few drops being left on the ground. 

 This might be covered up with dry 

 earth. — Editor. | 



Notes From ^ Abroad 



Bv C. P Dadant, 



It was on Aug. 28, 1!)I3, that we 

 reached Meiringen, going south, and 

 we had promised to be in Nyon, at the 

 home of Mr. Bertrand, on the 30th. So 

 we had two days to visit some of the 

 most wonderful beauties of beautiful 

 Switzerland. 



I have spoken of the gorge of the 

 Corner as far beneath the Aare gorge 

 in grandeur. It was at Meiringen that 

 we visited the latter. Imagine a tor- 

 rent rushing in a fissure several hun- 

 dred feet deep and so narrow that one 

 can often touch both walls with the 

 hands, while walking on a board shelf, 

 hung over the precipice. Where the 

 gorge is too narrow a tunnel has been 

 built to get from one part of if to an- 

 other. This gorge is over a mile in 

 length. During the entire time you 

 can only see a little strip of the sky be- 

 tween the abrupt stone walls on either 

 side. All this is lighted at night with 

 electricity, and must look still more 

 fearful then. 



Aiter walking along until you think 

 you must have almost reached the 

 glacier from which this stream emerges, 

 you see the gorge open and a pretty 

 village, Innertkirchen, shows itself in 

 the distance. It is everywhere thus in 

 Switzerland. As you scale impossible 

 heights you imagiie yourself beyond 

 the inhabited world, and suddenly find 

 automobile roads, villages and fashion- 

 able hotels. It is only when the snow 

 is reached that there is nothing but 

 huts to be found beyond. We saw this 

 the next day, climbing the heights of 

 the Little Scheidegg to the "Jung- 

 frau." It was a warm day, and ava- 

 lanches were sending their thundering 

 e.xplosions down to us every minute, 

 though we could see nothing of them. 



We had passed through the Lake of 

 Brienz to reach Interlaken. We later 

 went down the Lake of Thoun to con- 

 tinue southward. The villages by the 

 lakeside are pictures of beauty. The 

 brown houses, red roofs nnd green hills 

 behind them, with the dark mountain 

 above, and still higher the white peaks, 

 make pictures that one would like to 

 carry away. 



On the 2!lth, we left Interlaken early, 

 We had breakfast at Berne, lunch at 

 Lausanne, and dined at the Bertrand 

 home at Nyon. Our old friend had in- 

 formed us by letter that he had ex- 

 tended an invi'ation to half a dozen 

 leading beekeepers to take tea with us 

 at his home the next day, which was 

 Sunday. But he had not told us that 

 he also expected the arrival of Mr. 

 Thos. W. Cowan, the editor of the 



British Bee Journal, for the sa re day 

 Mr. Cowan, who often spends the sum- 

 mer in Switzerland, had accepted the 

 invitation to meet with us, and arrived 

 from London, punctually at 9 a.m., the 

 next day. The trip from London re- 

 quires a little less than 24 hours. The 

 r.-ader may imagine how glad we were 

 to meet him, and how proud we felt 

 that he had selected this date for his 

 visit, sijice it looked as if our presence 

 might have had some influence on his 

 determination. 



It was a great day for us. The chalet 

 is in one of the prettiest spots along 

 Lake Geneva, and in full view of Mont 

 Blanc. Our hosts had just come home 

 from the mountain village mentioned 

 in the May number, Gryon, where they 

 spend the hot months (if anything can 

 be called "hot" in Switzerland). The 

 flowerbeds were all aglow, the pond 

 lilies in full bloom, and the walks 

 freshly raked. The company was good, 

 and we giv » a picture of the little party. 

 Of course we talked bees. Mr. Cowan, 

 lik Mr. and Mrs. Bertrand, speaks 

 French or English at your pleasure, 

 and you cannot show him a flower < f 

 which he is unable to tell the scientific 

 name. Most of our readers have heard 

 of his three leading works on bees: 

 "The British Beekeeper's Guide Book," 

 a practical work; "The Honey Bee," 

 an exhaustive treatise on the anatomy 

 and natural history of the bee; and 

 "Wax Craft," a thorough work on 

 beeswax, its uses and its adulterations. 



Some of his books have had the bono 

 of eight translations. 



Mr. Cowan gave me some valuable 

 information concerning the Caucasian 

 bee, and the reason why some bees of 

 this race a ipear as if they were mixed 

 with Italians. He had made enquiries 

 and received the following information 

 fiom Mr. Gorbotcheff, an official of the 

 sericultural station of Caucasus at 

 Tiflis : "The bees of Erivan (Trans- 

 caucasia south of Tiflis) are distin- 

 guished by their bright yellow-orange 

 c lor, but the typical bee of the Cau- 

 casus mountains is of a dull gray color. 

 The bees of north Caucasus are a mix- 

 ture of the gray with the bees of Per- 

 sia, which are also of bright color. 

 The bee of Persia is a typical bee of 

 the South, and in Caucasus is known 

 under the name of ' bee of Lencoran.' 

 Some beekeepers of Russia and Europe 

 make the mistake of calling these bees 

 'Caucasians.' They are lazy, wicked, 

 and great robbers. The production of 

 queens of this specie is not large. 



" On the contrary, the pure bees of 

 the mountains of Caucasus are gentle, 

 splendid workers, and their queens are 

 great layers." 



So when we rear Caucasian bees, if 

 we want them pure, we must insist on 

 the " dull gray color." Had our time 

 been unlimited, and the way to the 

 Caucasus unhampered by the Balkan 

 war then raging. I should have liked 

 to make an excursion to that country, 

 for everybody who has tried the Cau- 

 casians praises them. But in our four 

 months of vacation we could only fol- 

 low a narrow little path through Fi ance, 

 Switzerland an i Italy. We still had 

 the entire Italian trip before us, and 

 had to refuse som; very kind invita- 

 tions from half a dozen beekeepers of 

 Great Britain, including a hearty one 

 from Mr. Cowan, who readily e.xcused 

 us. He understood that if we went 

 through Great Britain, we must be pre- 

 pared to spend a month or so there, 

 and it was out of the question. It will 

 be for some future date. 



Mr. Forestier, a noted entomologist 

 present (the fourth gentleman from 

 the left, standing, page 31.5), told me 

 that he had often dissected bees 

 that had died of the May disease, and 



•LeChai.et" of, Mr. Bertrand 



