REPORT OF GMELIN. 323 



weight with the advocates for keeping the bees in a warm 

 temperature. The culture of the bee, which in the greater 

 part of the European countries forms, we are sorry to say, but 

 an unimportant branch of rural economy, is in Russia, on 

 the contrary, a source of existence to many entire communi- 

 ties. So large a quantity of wax is collected in the Russian 

 empire, that, independently of the domestic consumption, 

 from 120 to 150,000 pounds' weight are annually exported to 

 foreign countries from the ports of the Baltic alone ; while 

 honey is no less an object of national importance, nearly the 

 whole of Siberia being indebted for a great portion of its 

 supply to European Russia. 



According to Gmelin, notwithstanding the excessive cold, 

 there are a great number of bees kept in Siberia, and 

 he reports, "On the road from Casan to Catherina Burg, 

 we found several trees, which were like so many hives of 

 honey. The natives hollow the trunk of an aspen, willow, or 

 lime, or any other soft wood, to the length of five or six feet ; 

 at one of the sides, they make an opening of ten or twelve 

 inches long and four broad ; they close the opening with 

 a board fitted in a groove, and form some little holes for the 

 ingress and egress of the bees. They place these hives on 

 the edges of the woods, and suspend them to the trees by 

 bands of rushes, in order to prevent the bears from eating 

 the honey, of which they are very voracious. The honey 

 and wax which are obtained, form a considerable branch of 

 the commerce of Casan." 



During the winter that we resided in Russia, the thermo- 

 meter stood during ten days at six degrees below zero. At 

 that time, Sir Charles Gascoigne had an extensive apiary at 

 Zarskoe Seloe about eight wersts from St. Petersburg; 

 and on questioning him relative to the effect of the rigour 

 of a Russian winter on his bees, he assured us, that he never 

 experienced any mortality in his hives, proceeding from the 

 severity of the frost ; but, on the contrary, that the bees 



