1106 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1 



was about the same as the history of all 

 European countries. In the beginning of 

 the 19 th century there was a general awak- 

 ening on the subject. One of the first to 

 give an impetus to it was Peter I. Proko- 

 povitch, who, in 1828, established a special 

 school of apiculture, and for 22 years he car- 

 ried on this work, graduating 596 students. 



Another energetic personality was Alex- 

 ander M. Butleroff, who took the liveliest 

 interest in every thing pertaining to bee- 

 keeping. He wrote several handbooks on 

 apiculture, which for years formed the text- 

 books of the majority of the Russian apia- 

 rists. He founded the Russian Journal of 

 Apiculture, and established a model apiary 

 at the All-Russian Exhibition at Moscow. 

 He was instrumental in formulating the 

 scheme for a floating apicultural exposition, 

 which was mounted on a barge, sailing for 

 thirty days on the river Moscowa, making 

 ten stops to acquaint the people with scien- 

 tific apiculture. This fioating exposition 

 was visited by over 60,000 people. A similar 

 exposition on the Oka River a few years 

 later was also planned and carried into effect. 



In this respect I desire to add, by way of 

 parenthesis, that Russia has gone away 

 ahead of any other country; and the scheme 

 of teaching apiculture or any other industry 

 to its people by means of a floating exposi- 

 tion whereby daily demonstrations could be 

 made is not only novel, but something that 

 is deserving of the emulation of other coun- 

 tries. In the United States we have great 

 expositions, but the people have to go hun- 

 dreds and even thousands of miles to see 

 them. The result is that millions of poor 

 never have an opportunity of having their 

 eyes opened to the wonderful possibilities of 

 latter-day science and progress. But Russia 

 makes it possible for every one to see— in 

 other words, she takes "the mountain to 

 Mahomet." 



RUSSIAN APICULTURAL SCHOOLS. 



But this was not all. An exposition for 

 apiculture was held in Moscow in 1890. A 

 special school for the study of bees was in- 

 augurated in 1884. In 1896 there was estab- 

 lished at St. Petersburg The First Society 

 of Russian Apiculturists, several branches 

 of it being opened in various parts of the 

 country. This organization started a month- 

 ly magazine, arranged for exhibitions, con- 

 ventions of apiarists, apiaries for instruction, 

 and courses in apiculture for teachers in the 

 people's schools. In imitation of this organ- 

 ization new societies were established, of 

 which there were 38 with eight divisions, 

 with the promise of several more in the 

 near future. Apiculture, including both 

 theory and practice, was taught in 80 agri- 

 cultural schools, the teachers attending to 

 the culture of them. In many provinces the 

 Zemstvos (an organization consisting of 

 elective representatives of the several class- 

 es of population) have been active and ener- 

 getic in the matter of elevating apiculture, 

 inviting special experts for giving practical 

 demonstrations, of which Mr. Abram Titoff 

 was one before coming to this country. 



In this way apiculture has progressed in 

 Russia until there are now nine journals de- 

 voted to the pursuit. Of these, eight are in 

 the Russian language. There are many 

 translations from foreign languages, of such 

 notable works as Dadant's Langstroth, 

 Dzierzon, Berlepsch, Bertrand, Cowan, 

 Cook, Maeterlinck, de Lay ens, and Dubini. 

 Russia began to borrow largely from other 

 countries of Europe; but it was not until 

 1892 that Russian bee-keepers knew very 

 much about the methods employed in the 

 United States. At that time a new journal, 

 called the Messenger of Foreign Apicultural 

 Literature, was edited by Mr. Kondratyeff. 

 He traveled abroad every summer, going to 

 Germany, France, Austria, Italy, and 

 Switzerland. He became acquainted with 

 the celebrated Swiss apiarist Mr. Ed. 

 Bertrand, who frequently described Ameri- 

 can apicultural methods in his own journal. 

 Mr. Bertrand was always a devoted follower 

 of the late Charles Dadant, of this counti'y. 

 The result was that he enthused his Russian 

 friend, Mr. Kondratyeff, with the success- 

 ful methods employed by the Dadants, until 

 the name "Dadant" in Russian bee-keep- 

 ing is synonymous with progress and the 

 frame hive. So enthusiastic over American 

 bee-keeping did Mr. K. become that he fa- 

 miliarized all Russia with the names of 

 Langstroth. Dadant, Root, Miller, Benton, 

 Doolittle, Pratt, Alley, and others. All that 

 could be applied to Russian conditions was 

 adopted. The ABC of Bee Culture was 

 quoted in the columns of Mr. Kondratyeff's 

 paper. The result of this warm champion- 

 ship of America is that half of all the 

 Russian bee-hives with frames are of the 

 American Dadant style. 



There are over 300,000 persons engaged in 

 bee culture in European Russia to-day, and 

 5,000,000 hives of bees, comprising all of 

 Russia and her possessions. This would 

 make a total valuation of $12,000,000. 



The Russians have adopted a rather novel 

 form of selling comb honey. Beautiful tin 

 boxes, lithographed in colors, are made of 

 various sizes. Great cards of honey are 

 produced in extracting-frames, and from 

 these are sliced out chunks just large enough 

 to go inside of the tin box. These are put 

 out under the name of "Exquisite," selling 

 at the fancy price of 25 and 30 cents each. 

 But of thfse I shall have more to say later 

 on, for illustrations are now in progress. 



It is my opinion that, notwithstanding 

 Russia has learned much of America, there 

 is much for us to learn from Russia. Mr. 

 Abram Titoff expects to go back to his own 

 country after visiting other lands, and intro- 

 duce modern methods, and possibly establish 

 a factory for manufacturing bee-keepers' 

 supplies— something that is urgently needed 

 in Russia. If he does, he will take back 

 with him American machinery, and probably 

 to a very great extent American methods. 



Mr. Titoff 's paper, while long, was listened 

 to with interest; and at its conclusion a. 

 hearty vote of thanks was tendered to him 

 and his government. 



