878 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 29, 1904. 



you gave this morning to this body I noticed that you spoke 

 about the representatives from foreign nations. On the Ex- 

 position grounds we have nearly one hundred nations repre- 

 sented. Among them some of the commissioners from the dif 

 ferent countries are very anxious indeed to get liold of our 

 American ideas of doing business. Would it not be proper 

 to extend an invitation to some of those foreign commissioners 

 to come here and meet with us? If so, I move that a commit- 

 tee of three be appointed to see some of them to invite them 

 to come here and attend our Convention. [Carried.] 



The president appointed as the committee Messrs. Stilson, 

 Dadant.and Titoff. 



Presentations of invitations to hold the next annual meet- 

 ing in Cincinnati and San Antonio were made at this time. 

 The executive committee decides finally as to the time and 

 place of meeting. 



Pres. Harris — I have now the distinguished honor of pre- 

 senting to you the representative from Russia, Mr. Titofif. 



Mr. Root — I might say Mr. Titoff came to our place of 

 business about a year and a half ago, not knowing a word of 

 English ; he came with the full credentials of the Russian 

 Government to learn American methods in bee-keeping that 

 he might carry them back to his own country. We tried to 

 converse back and forth but did not succeed very well. I 

 showed him various devices and he seemed to be perfectly 

 familiar with them. I motioned to him and he intimated he 

 understood what I was trying to convey. He understands 

 English now, and understands it well, but is not able to speak 

 it fluently. At the same time he is a bee-keeper, and I am 

 glad to bring before you a foreign expert bee-keeper. He un- 

 derstands the methods of producing honey. He has been out 

 in one of the large bee-yards extracting honey, and I think 

 perhaps during the coming fall or next year he is going south 

 and possibly to San Antonio to learn something about their 

 methods. I told him one of the good places in the United 

 States to learn American bee-keeping was down around San 

 Antonio where there are a lot of bee-keepers. 



Mr. Titoff — I am sorry I cannot speak English good 

 enough, I want to say I came here a year ago from Russia 

 .^ learn American methods of bee-keeping, and I would like 

 to tell the American bee-keepers that we use American ideas 

 in Russia and we find it very good for our business. I find 

 that many of the American bee-keepers and American citizens 

 know very little about Russia ; they think it is a very cold 

 country ; they think we could not keep bees at all. I have 

 written a paper on "Bee-keeping in Russia," and I am sorry 

 that I could not read it myself, so I will ask Mr. Abbott to 

 read it for me. 



Mr. Abbott then read the paper, as follows : 



BEE-KEEPINQ IN RUSSIA. 



A year and a half ago, when I came to the United States 

 of America with the object of acquainting myself with the 

 latest methods of American apiculture, I found during my 

 stay among the apiculturists of this country, that many of 

 them, in common with the rest of the Americans, had abso- 

 lutely no knowledge of the existence of the bee-keeping in- 

 dustry in Russia. Many expressed their surprise in conver- 

 sation on the subject that bee-keeping should be at all prac- 

 ticable in that country. I had to conclude that in the belief 

 of the general run of people Russia was a country where bears 

 are wont to stroll around the streets of cities in the broad day- 

 light, where the only means of transportation is furnished 

 by arctic dogs, and fur coats are worn in the middle of sum- 

 mer. Siberia, with the convicts — they thought — was a land 

 of the eternal snow and cold and darkness and was withal 

 a land replete with horrors. Such ideas could only be ex- 

 plained by the great distance between tlie two countries and 

 by the difference in language and literature. 



It is my desire to throw a little light upon the question 

 whether apiculture really does exist in Russia or not and in 

 whate state it is. I take advantage of my presence at the 

 Convention of the North American Bee-Keepers' Association 

 in order to accord in my present paper a glimpse into the 

 state of apiculture in Russia, and appeal to the esteemed mem- 

 bers of the convention for a few minutes of their attention. 



In the most ancient chronicles of Russian history there 

 are many mentions not only of the existence of apiculture 

 in Russia, but also of the fact that it was one of her chief 

 pursuits. Thanks to the primeval forest which covered with 

 hardly an interruption the entire country, thanks to the wealth 

 and variety of her natural resources — still virginal in most 

 places — commencing with the fiftieth degree of Northern 

 latitude and southward, the bee-keeping industry throve every- 



where. It flourished particularly in the South, Southwest and 

 Southeast of Russia. 



The consumption of honey, both in its natural state and 

 as a beverage (Mcth or Mead,— Remark of the translator J 

 in ancient times, was immense, according to historical rec- 

 ords. All classes of people were fond of honey, and thought 

 it healthful. Honey was considered an aid to the preserva- 

 tion and the strengthening of health, it was thought to lend 

 physical and spiritual vigor to the entire organism. 



After conversion to Christianity apiculture rose even high- 

 er in esteem. Wax was used in tremendous quantities in the 

 sanctuaries of the Greek Church in the celebration of her holy 

 rites. According to the laws of the Church, milk and meat 

 are forbidden to be eaten during the fasts, and honey is used 

 in great quantities as a valuable ingredient together with 

 vegetable meals, and is therefore in great demand. It is thus 

 seen that both wax and honey are indispensable articles for 

 the jeligious requirements of the land. The progress of the 

 development of bee-culture in Russia further increased the 

 demand for the products of the bee-keeping industry. 



The records of history show that for several centuries 

 previous to the 17th century, and including the latter, apicul- 

 ture was carried on in the most primitive manner ; it was, 

 as it were, "a product of the chase." An immense number of 

 swarms inhabited the trunks of the forest trees, and honey 

 abounded therein. The labor of man was limited to the locat- 

 ing and gathering of honey. 



About 1613 there appeared in Russia the first printed pam- 

 phlet on bee-keeping, the author of which was the Wojewoda 

 (Duke — Translator's remark) Joannes Ostrogor. It was pub- 

 lished in the Polish tongue and described a hive invented 

 by the author and the manner of tending the bees therein. 



We thus see that in the end of the 16th and in the be- 

 ginning of the 17th century the Russian people had ceased 

 to limit themselves to obtaining honey by bee-hunting, but 

 commenced to give some thought to the question of "tend- 

 ing the bees." As a result, and owing also to the opulence 

 of nature, apiculture became one of the great pursuits of the 

 Russian nation. The extent to which the development of 

 apiculture progressed can be seen from the fact that in many 

 regions of the country even the ordinary duties and taxes 

 were paid to the government in wax and honey. In spite 

 of the immense home consumption, wax and honey soon 

 became materials of manufacture, and for the two centu- 

 ries mentioned products of apiculture formed the chief arti- 

 cles of export from Russia. Wax was particularly exported 

 to England, and the amount of wax exported to that coun- 

 try reached 920 tons annually. 



Towards the close of the 17th century we already notice 

 a considerable decay in the bee-keeping industry, the chief 

 reason of which was the deforestation and increasing tilling 

 of the land. In 1692 wax was already imported into Russia 

 from abroad. 



Since apiculture had at that time an important place 

 in the national economy, the decay of this important indus- 

 try called for protective measures on the part of the Govern- 

 ment, in order to preserve and strengthen it. The government 

 commenced to parcel out free lands for apiaries. In 1775 

 the tax — hereto levied on bee-keeping — was removed. For the 

 pursuit and the improvement of bee-keeping were granted 

 prizes and rewards. A special medal with the representation 

 of a bee hive was instituted for that purpose. Several books 

 on the subject of apiculture had appeared and various news- 

 paper articles dealing with same are noticed. In 1S07 was 

 published as a translation from German the book "Experi- 

 ments in Apiculture." The Emperor Alexander I, rewarded 

 the translator with a diamond signet-ring and command to 

 express to him his imperial good wishes. 



In the beginning of the 19th century it became a recog- 

 nized fact that in order to raise the productiveness of apicul- 

 ture it was necessary to improve the technical basis and leave 

 the old ways of caring for bees for the better systems, and 

 both the Government authorities and private persons labored 

 with that end in view. One of the foremost and most 

 active workers among private persons was Peter I. 

 Prokopovitch. Convinced the word of mouth, and 

 practical demonstrations were better than books in_ the 

 task of placing apiculture upon a regular and rational 

 foundation. MrT Prokopovitch established 1828 a special school 

 of apiculUne and during the 22 years of his direction of that 

 institution he graduated 566 students well intimate with 

 rational apiculture. This school was in existence untd 1879 

 and was of immense value to Russian apiculture. Mr. 

 Prokopovitch is the founder of rational apiculture in Russia. 

 The labors of Mr. Prokopovitch coincided with the discovery 

 of the Girnian pastor. Rev. Dizerzon (?"). who gave a new 



