1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



223 



AN APICULTURAL RAMBLE IN RUSSIA. 



Bu Karl Rudolpli Mathen. 



Like a bee that gathers honey diligently all 

 day. and returns home at night wearied, laden 

 with honey and pollen, so I came home each 

 evening to my dwelling, richly laden with in- 

 tellectual treasures which, throughout the day, 

 I had gathered in cities, villages, woods, and 

 fields, in churches, and during hours of medita- 

 tion, in public places and in private houses. 

 The evenings were spent in distilling the newly 

 gathered material. The results attained were 

 sketched down in a book and rewritten. 



In Europe the largest state is Russia; and as 

 I have already begun with the apiculture of 



RUSSIAN SCENE. 



that country, we will first, by word and picture, 

 consider Russian forest apiculture. 



Here is to be seen, true to nature, a Bashkir 

 bee-hive in the forest; and the reader who has 

 been kind enough to follow me so far will here 

 see the bee-keeper taking a look at his bees in 

 winter, to see whether or not the provisions are 

 lacking in either hive. Let us look at the tall 

 tree a little more particularly— the one the bee- 

 keeper has begun to climb in order to examine 

 his bees, which are located in three dug-out 

 cavities above; and woe to him if, on his way 

 down, he slips from such a height. By means 

 of a rope made fast to a wooden cask, the gath- 



ered honey is let down from above and taken to 

 the house, where the clarifying process begins. 

 The honey is first laid in a sieve, through 

 which it trickles, and this is put on the niarkcit 

 as "drop honey." That remaining in the 

 combs is put into a kettle on the hearth, and 

 cooked out and used in various ways for culi- 

 nary purposes, but more particularly in the 

 manufacture of " honey brandy " and " mead." 

 At the left of the picture we s(ie a colony rigged 

 up for summer. 



As the pasturage for the bees in the woods 

 opens earlier and lasts later, it follows that 

 this sylvan apiculture is much more profitable 

 than that carried on in the open fields. In the 

 forest there are many alder, hazel, and other 

 trees, from which the bees, even as early as the 

 middle of March, can gather pollen, 

 while, on the contrary, in many 

 places in the open country this early 

 Masturage is entirely lacking, or, at 

 i"^st, hardly to be found earlier 

 tlian April; hence earlier swarms 

 in wooded localities may be expect- 

 ed. The yield from such hives is 

 always large as compared with the 

 regular culture of tame bees. 



Now, as the owner of such forest- 

 bees can not protect them from 

 enemies and thieves, it has been 

 found advantageous to locate them 

 near by, and arrange them so that 

 the bees may be sheltered, and the 

 honey cut out conveniently. 



Russia has also many great bee- 

 keepers. Among the most promi- 

 nent may be mentioned the Prus- 

 sian nobleman Alexander Michail- 

 owitsch von Butlerow, Professor of 

 Medicine and Chemistry in St. Pe- 

 tersburg, who died in 1887. Dr. M. 

 was the founder of the movable 

 system of frames in all _ Russia. 

 Through the labors of Dr. M., his 

 countrymen were enlightened as to 

 bees, and'their habits and anatomy. 

 In order to enlighten his fellow- 

 countrymen as to the merits of 

 rational bee culture and a movable 

 frame. Dr. I\L wrote a bee-book entitled "The 

 Bee and its Life; the Chief Rules of Rational 

 Apiculture Applied to Northern Climates." 

 The book awakened great interest in Russia, 

 and was crowned with the golden medal; and 

 the Royal Economic Society of Russia scat- 

 tered 20,000 copies. It has also been translated 

 into Polish. Dr. Michailowitsch had, upon his 

 old native place in Butlerow, an apiary with 

 over KJO colonies, and carried on the raising of 

 queens there extensively, and this apiary was 

 managed by himself. He cultivated all known 

 races, especially the Italian and Caucasian; 

 and his hives were also samples from all parts 



