BEES IN POLAND. 105 



scarcely able to regain its lonely shieling in the 

 distant vale. When we consider the poverty of 

 our mountaineers, and their frequent want of 

 occupation, it is the more to be lamented that so 

 easy a source of emolument should lie open to 

 them in vain." From the Journal of Agriculture 

 we learn that Poland is, perhaps, the greatest 

 honey-producing country in Europe. In the pro- 

 vinces of Podolia, Ukraine and Volhynia in par- 

 ticular, the cultivation of the honey-bee has long 

 formed an object of national importance ; and 

 these bee-gardens are not only very numerous 

 and extensive, but they are also common in other 

 parts of the kingdom. There are cottages in 

 Poland, with very small portions of land attached 

 to them, on which are to be seen as many as fifty 

 hives; while there are farmers and landed pro- 

 prietors who are in possession of from one hundred 

 to ten thousand hives. There are some farmers 

 who collect annually more than 200 barrels of fine 

 honey, each barrel weighing from 400 to 500 Ibs., 

 exclusive of the wax. A tenant is often in this 

 .way enabled to pay his rent and taxes, to defray 



