American 'bee Journal 



December, 1914. 



the mating, the female motlis are 

 place 1 in paper sacks where they lay 

 their eggs to the number of about 5()U 

 and die afterwards. To discover the 

 diseased ones, each moth when dead 

 must be crushed in water and a little of 

 the liquid examined under the micro- 

 scope. If the corpuscles of pebrine 

 appear, the eggs of that moth are de- 

 stroyed. Those eggs only are preserved 

 which are produced by a healthy 

 mother. In his way, it is possible, 

 to rear silkworms that are healthy. 

 The percentage of diseased moths is 

 now very small. 



But the peasants of Italy were un- 

 educated, and it was out of the ques- 

 tion for them to purchase microscopes 

 and examine their broods. It became 

 necessary for educated people to take 

 the matter in hand. Devoted men and 

 women, belonging to the higher classes 

 of society, gave their help. Miss V'al- 

 entine Visconti, countess though she 

 be, was one of the generous persons 

 who devoted themselves to this task. 

 We give herewith a few pictures, which 

 by the way were made by Coui t Vis- 

 conti himself, as well as others which 

 will appear later. In these pictures our 

 readers will see the country people or 

 "contadini " employed by the lady and 

 her father weighing the silkworms or 

 examining he moths under the micro- 

 scope. We witnessed the peiformance 

 ourselves that day and were told that 

 the house produced some 1500 ounces 

 of eggs, of which there are about 12,(100 

 in an ounce. So a portion of this mag- 

 nificent villa is devoted to an agricul- 

 tural pursuit in which science must 

 lead to secure success. Isn't it inter- 

 esting ? 



Count Visconti. who is 7.5 years 

 young, seemed delighted to show us 

 around. The villa has a beautilul park, 

 with a stream, a water-wheel, a small 

 lake, etc. The apiary is composed 

 mainly of movable-frame hives of the 

 Italian pattern, with tall narrow frames, 

 looking very much on the outside like 

 box hives. However, he has a few 

 Dadant hives, and in one of the pic- 

 tures he is represented as examining a 

 comb. In another he is weighing a 

 hive of bees, to ascertain the daily gain 

 in weight. 



The villa has an inner yard, a monu- 

 mental stairway, ceilings between 20 

 and :iO feet in height, 3 stories, veran- 

 dahs, with iron railings on all sides. 

 There is a very large library with in- 

 folio Bibles on parchment, genealogies 

 from the middle ages, Italian and 

 French authors of past centuries and a 

 copy of the great " Encyclopedie " of 

 171)5, the only one which I have ever had 

 the privilege to see. The immense rooms 

 looked to us for all the world like 

 those of the Trianons of Versailles, 

 with similar arrangements of tables, 

 chairs, mirrors, silver candelabra and 

 wall and ceiling paintings, dating back 

 several hundred years. We felt awfully 

 little in such a place. But our entertainer 

 was so very kind that we finally felt at 

 home, especially after the cordial wel- 

 come extended to us by the lady of the 

 house. 



When we sat down at the table, in 

 the spacious dining room. Mr. Visconti 

 said : " America is visiting Italy ; there 

 is no longer any ocean." He is a great 

 joker and a merciless, open critic. We 



COUNT VISCONTI EXAMINING THE BEES 



FISHING IN THE LAKE OK VILLA VISCONTI 



