![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/files\/2013\/03\/16november2013-e1362781642949.jpg\" "\\"16november2013\\"")
<\/a>ALL Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair\u2014<\/span>\nThe bees are stirring\u2014birds are on the wing\u2014
\nAnd WINTER, slumbering in the open air,
\nWears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!
\nAnd I, the while, the sole unbusy thing,
\nNor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.<\/p>\n
Yet well I ken the banks where amaranths blow,
\nHave traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.
\nBloom, O ye amaranths! bloom for whom ye may,
\nFor me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away!
\nWith lips unbrighten’d, wreathless brow, I stroll:
\nAnd would you learn the spells that drowse my soul?
\nWORK WITHOUT HOPE draws nectar in a sieve,
\nAnd HOPE without an OBJECT cannot live.<\/p>\n
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
\n\u201cWork Without Hope\u201d<\/p>\n
But all hope is not lost. As the bees continue their hidden preparations for the coming Spring, there is still plenty of time to busy yourself and forge a connection to their part of the natural world.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Are you a newbie (see what I did there?) in all things related to honey bees and beekeeping, but interested to learn?<\/span><\/li>\n
- Are you an experienced beekeeper on the lookout for another great bit of knowledge?<\/span><\/li>\n
- Worried that the bees are all dying and we will soon be relegated to a diet of wind pollinated corn?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The Bates library has an excellent collection of books describing basic beekeeping and bee biology. A search of our catalog will turn up quite a few, but here\u2019s a short list to get you started:<\/p>\n
Introduction to Honeybee Biology:<\/h2>\n
For some basic and intermediate information about bees and beekeeping, you might try one (or more) of the following.<\/p>\n
In particular, “Huber’s new observations upon bees<\/a>” is a classic considered by many to be one of the seminal publications in the study of beekeeping. The publisher of this addition (Michael Bush) states: \u201c[Fran\u00e7ois Huber\u2019s] discoveries were so revolutionary, that beekeeping can be divided in two eras very easily as pre-Huber and post-Huber\u201d.<\/p>\n
Initially written as collected correspondence from the blind naturalist Huber (1750-1831) to celebrated naturalist Charles Bonnet (1720-1793), this work was translated into English for American publication by famous beekeeper C.P. Dadant.<\/span><\/p>\n
For a more modern take on many of Huber’s ideas, you might enjoy reading Michael Bush’s\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe practical beekeeper<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0 Beekeeping after 1985 has been called by some the age of chemical pest management. Almost certainly the result of the greatly increased prevalence of parasitic mites and the viruses they carry as well as bacterial and fungal parasites, most of the American feral honeybee population has disappeared. To avoid similar colony losses, most hobbyist and commercial beekeepers began a regimen of chemical treatment to deal with these honeybee pests. A common mantra heard from many beekeepers today is \u201cTreat or Die\u201d. \u00a0A\u00a0bit of a well respected heretic in the beekeeping community, Michael Bush describes his method of treatment-free beekeeping and hive management. \u00a0This book will probably spend more time checked out than in, but fear not. \u00a0Nearly all of the content can be found on Michael Bush’s informative website<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n
Huber’s new observations upon bees : the complete volumes I & II<\/a><\/h3>\n
Author: Francis Huber
\nFrench to English translation: C.P. Dadant
\nModern typesetting and image enhancement: Michael Bush<\/p>\nAnatomy of the honey bee<\/a><\/h3>\n
Author: R.E. Snodgrass<\/p>\n
The biology of the honey bee<\/a><\/h3>\n
Author: Mark L. Winston<\/p>\n
The practical beekeeper<\/a><\/h3>\n
Author: Michael Bush<\/p>\n
Modern Studies of Beehive Social Organization:<\/h2>\n
Each of these best selling books by Cornell entomologist Thomas Seeley does a phenomenal job of describing the stimulus and response patterns related to various activities within the hive. Both are very readable and both take the standard descriptions of what happens in a hive to the level of why it might be happening.<\/p>\n
The wisdom of the hive : the social physiology of honey bee colonies<\/a><\/h3>\n
Author: Thomas Seeley<\/p>\n
Honeybee democracy<\/a><\/h3>\n
Author: Thomas Seeley<\/p>\n
Authoritative Beekeeping Reference Works:<\/h2>\n
The personal libraries of many beekeepers contain one or both of the following books. Check them out to see why these encyclopedic works are considered such valuable resources.<\/p>\n
The ABC & XYZ of bee culture : a cyclopedia of everything pertaining to the care of the honey-bee<\/a> (41st Edition)<\/h3>\n
Editors: Hachiro Shimanuki and Kim Flottum<\/span><\/p>\n
The Hive and the honey bee : a new book on beekeeping which continues the tradition of “Langstroth on the hive and the honeybee”<\/a><\/h3>\n
Editor: J.M. Graham<\/p>\n
Historical of Beekeeping:<\/h2>\n
For a long view of beekeeping through history and in America, these books would be a good place to start. \u00a0A special shout out for Eva Crane’s engaging and readable tome–not longer in print and getting harder to find, this book is clearly a work of love. \u00a0Very readable and loaded with info. \u00a0Also, the 1918 edition of Hutchinson’s “Advanced bee culture” (available here as a freely available Google ebook) shows how much in beekeeping hasn’t changed in the past 100 years. \u00a0Again, very readable and\u00a0worth a look for the images alone.<\/p>\n
The world history of beekeeping and honey hunting<\/a><\/h3>\n
Author: Eva Crane<\/p>\n
Bees in America: how the honey bee shaped a nation<\/h3>\n
Author: Tammy Horn<\/p>\n
Letters from the hive: an intimate history of bees, honey, and humankind<\/h3>\n
Author(s): Stephen Buchmann with Banning Repplie<\/p>\n
Advanced bee-culture<\/a>\u00a0(1918 edition)<\/h3>\n
Author: William Z. Hutchinson<\/p>\n
Internet Resource<\/p>\n
Honey Bee Health:<\/h2>\n
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has made global headlines and many have weighed in regarding the possible cause(s) of the significant increase in honeybee colony failure as well as the effects the loss of these pollinators would have on the global food supply. \u00a0Here are a few sources that deal with this potential crisis.<\/p>\n
Fruitless fall : the collapse of the honey bee and the coming agricultural crisis<\/a><\/h3>\n
Author: Rowan Jacobsen<\/p>\n
A spring without bees: how colony collapse disorder has endangered our food supply<\/a><\/h3>\n
Author: Michael Schacker<\/p>\n
<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the approach of Spring, the thoughts of some turn to the birds and the bees. If you are one of those interested in (honey) bees, you might want to browse this sampling of the Bates bee book collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":338,"featured_media":3308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-books","category-library"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3291"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9924,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291\/revisions\/9924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Are you an experienced beekeeper on the lookout for another great bit of knowledge?<\/span><\/li>\n