1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



731 



was very heavy with straw, four to six feet 

 long. No fences or hedges were seen separat- 

 ing the land into fields. The people for the 

 most part live together in villages. They un- 

 doubtedly have their individual holdings, for 

 the different kinds of field crops are inter- 

 spersed with small patches of about % acre 

 up to two or three acres, and the country looks 

 like a patchwork quilt— a patch of wheat, one 

 of rye, another of clover, one of oats, and 

 another of potatoes, then a patch of sugar 

 beets, a piece of plowed ground, and so on. 

 In Germany the patches were very much larg- 

 er than in Belgium. The grain is cut with a 

 sickle or scythe or grain-cradle, bound in 

 sheaves, and shocked up. Afterward it is 

 drawn together on wagons or wheelbarrows, 

 carefully stacked, and thatched over with 

 straw to shed the rain. About as many wo- 

 men as men are seen working in the field, and 

 the children also help. At one place I saw 

 four or five children pulling a drag over the 

 plowed ground. Very few animals are seen, 

 and oxen are quite as common as horses for 

 draft animals. 



In a distance of several hundred miles, most 

 of the way harvesting progressing on both 

 sides of the train, I saw only one steam-thrash- 

 er, and that was an American-made machine. 

 I saw one self-binder and one or two mowing- 

 machines. Everywhere in the fields could be 

 seen men and women cutting the grain by the 

 old primitive methods of our forefathers, in 

 use before the invention of the modern har- 

 vesting-machinery. In the small patches of 

 Belgium the crops were much heavier than in 

 the larger ones m Germany ; they were also 

 very free from weeds of all kinds, while in 

 many of the larger patches thistles and other 

 weeds were common. The homes of the peo- 

 ple are, in outward appearance at least, neat 

 and tidy, built of brick or plaster, with red 

 tile roof, with flower gardens in the yard or in 

 the windows. They present an appearance of 

 contentment. It may be the contentment of 

 ignorance as contrasted with the higher aver- 

 age intelligence of America. 



Quite frequently may be seen along the road- 

 side a crucifix in a little case upon a pole call- 

 ed a shrine. The worship of the people in 

 connection with these shrines, the churches, 

 and cathedrals, seems a very near approach to 

 idolatry, and yet we may not judge, for the 

 fruit of their religion is quite as evident as in 

 many of our Protestant churches. 



The drinking of wine and beer is almost 

 universal, and, indeed, many of our own com- 

 pany who at home are strong temperance ad- 

 vocates have here been induced to drink wine 

 and beer because they say the water is unfit 

 for drink. I have taken the water without 

 stint, and have suffered no ill effects. I can 

 not see but it is equal to any we have in Amer- 

 ica. We are told on every hand that it is dan- 

 gerous to drink water, and that we must not 

 do it. I had rather risk the pure water of the 

 mountain streams than any concoction of 

 man's device, in spite of what they say. 



In the cities on the continent electric cars 

 are found, though they are not as numerous 

 as we find them in most American cities. 



Fares are based upon the distance traveled, 

 and are quite low for short runs. 



As we approach the border of Switzerland, 

 in Germany, the farm buildings become more 

 scattered instead of being grouped in villages. 

 These buildings are peculiar in one respect ; 

 namely, the barn and house are under one 

 roof. The part in which the people live is 

 usually of white plaster or brick, while the 

 barn part where stock or farm animals are 

 kept is of wood, usually unpainted. All forms 

 one building. 



In Switzerland the houses are built with 

 stone or plaster basement above ground, used 

 for storage and animals, and this is surmount- 

 ed by a wooden house, usually with an attic 

 above, and with very wide-spreading eaves. 

 The shingles are held on by stones laid in rows 

 on broad strips every two or three feet up each 

 side. There are a great many small out-build- 

 ings scattered over the fields and mountain 

 sides. Fruit-orchards abound in Switzerland, 

 but are very scarce in those parts of Germany 

 which we passed through. The Swiss people 

 put props under the limbs of heavily laden 

 fruit-trees. In many cases the props are so 

 numerous they look like the banyan tree. 

 They cultivate the steep precipitous mountain- 

 sides. Where it is too steep to hold the earth 

 from slipping down, stone terraces are built 

 to hold it up ; and when the earth is washed 

 down by storms it is carried up again in bas- 

 kets. Along the Rhine the mountain-sides 

 are covered with these terraces full of vine- 

 yards. In Switzerland, on the mountainsides 

 grass is grown. It is cut, dried, and bundled 

 with great labor, and stored in small sheds or 

 barns. Stock is seldom seen grazing, as that 

 is too wasteful. The people are hard-working, 

 and toil under conditions which in America 

 would seem intolerable ; yet they seem to be 

 happy and contented. The bright ruddy faces 

 of the grown people as well as the chil- 

 dren ; the clear complexicm and bright eyes, 

 betoken health and happiness. 



When passing through the mountain passes 

 to-day I saw several sawmills driven by over- 

 shot water-wheels. The saw, about the size 

 of an ordinary crosscut saw, works up and 

 down in the form of a jigsaw. The log, when 

 once set, is not turned, but is sawn through 

 and through, leaving the bark edge. The 

 boards from each log are kept together just as 

 they are sawn ; and wherever you see lumber 

 piled it will be in the shape of the original 

 logs, with the saw-kerfs out. In a modern 

 band-saw mill, in America at least, a dozen 

 large logs would be cut into lumber in the 

 time taken to make one cut through a small 

 log from end to end here. The.se Swiss 

 houses, built of this mountain pine or spruce 

 in the substantial way they are built, and left 

 unpainted, will outlast many a well built frame 

 house in America. The better class of houses, 

 not the best, have walls of solid wood four to 

 six inches thick, made of square timbers dow- 

 eled together and interlocked at the corners 

 just as a log house is built. The ends are neat- 

 ly finished, and project a foot or so beyond 

 the interlocking point. This interlocking is 

 so neatly done that it is difficult to see the in- 



