or THE 



Vol. II.] June 1895. [No. 1. 



BEE-KEEPING IN RUSSIA. 



A Report issued by the Russian Ministry of Crown Domains 

 contains some interesting information relating to the progress of 

 bee-keeping in Russia in Europe. As early as the thirteenth 

 century the production of honey and wax ajDpears to have been a 

 prominent rural industry in the principality of Moscow. Indeed, 

 apiculture was then regarded as of great importance to the 

 economy of the country, and'^th« products of the bee-keeper 

 served not only for home consumption, but figured in the records 

 of articles exported to AVestern Europe. In the sixteenth cen- 

 tury, Russian wax is said to have been exported to England from 

 the White Sea. The trade flourished until the beginning of 

 the eighteenth century, whe^a the imposition of certain fiscal 

 duties by Peter the Great led to a decline of the bee-keeping 

 industry. 



It seems that bee-culture is practised at the present time 

 throughout European Russia and in many parts of Siberia, but 

 it does not form an important branch of the occupations of the 

 people. Some localities in Osetie and Abkhasia in the Caucasus, 

 and in the government of Ufa form an exception, for in these 

 districts bee-culture is the principal industr}^ of a considerable 

 number of the population ; even there, however, neither honey 

 nor beeswax is produced in quantities sufficient to meet the 

 demand. 



Bees are bred in two different ways, viz., in the wild and 

 domestic state. By the former method, their culture is very 

 simple : a swarm of wild bees settles in the hollow of a tree, 

 generally prepared beforehand in such a way as to facilitate 

 the removal of the honey. Hollow pieces of timber are 

 sometimes fastened to the trees, and the wild bees hive 

 therein. Wild apiculture is practised to a large extent in the 



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