by Helen Jukes
François Huber’s letters were originally published in 1792 in a single volume; a second edition was published in 1814 in two volumes, edited in part by his son Pierre Huber. New Observations Upon Bees, published in 1926 by the American Bee Journal, is a careful and very readable translation by Charles Dadant.
Two particular texts provided some further background on Huber: The Life and Writings of Francis Huber, written by his friend Auguste de Candolle and published by the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal in 1833, and Sophia Bledsoe Herrick’s Sketch of the Life of Francis Huber, published in Popular Science Monthly in 1875.
In addition to those mentioned above, the following sources were particularly useful references on bees and beekeeping, or prompts for further thinking:
Abdel Haleem, M. A. S. (trans.), The Qur’an (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).
Aristotle, Generation of Animals, trans. Peck, A. L. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1942).
—— Metaphysics, Volume I: Books 1–9, trans. Tredennick, H. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1933).
Berger, J., And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos (London: Bloomsbury, 2005).
Butler, C., The Feminine Monarchie (London, 1609).
Clarence, C., ‘A Closer Look: Sound Generation and Hearing’, Bee Culture: The Magazine of American Beekeeping, 22 February 2016, accessed via www.beeculture.com
Columella, L. J. M., On Agriculture, Volume II: Books 5–9, trans. Forster, E. S. and Heffner, E. H. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954).
Couvillon, M., Ratnieks, F., Schürch, R., ‘Dancing Bees Communicate a Foraging Preference for Rural Lands in High-Level Agri-Environment Schemes’, Current Biology, 24, 11: 1212–15, 2014.
Dade, H. A., Anatomy and Dissection of the Honeybee (Cardiff: International Bee Research Association, 1994).
Dalby, A. (trans.), Geoponika: Farm Work (Totnes: Prospect Books, 2011).
Dixon, L., Bees and Honey: Myth, Folklore and Traditions (Mytholmroyd: Northern Bee Books, 2015).
Dunbar, J., ‘Some Observations on the Instinct and Operations of Bees, with a Description and Figure of a Glazed Bee-Hive’, Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, 3: 143–8, 1820.
Eliade, M., Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, trans. Mairet, P. (Glasgow: Collins, 1968).
—— The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, trans. Trask, W. R. (New York, NY: Harcourt Brace, 1959).
Giggs, R., The Rise of the Edge: New Thresholds of the Ecological Uncanny & Inside Albatross: Fictions for Strange Weather (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Western Australia, 2010).
Hartlib, S., The Reformed Commonwealth of Bees (London, 1655).
Hine, D., The Crossing of Two Lines (Stockholm: Elemental Editions, 2013).
Horn, T., Beeconomy: What Women and Bees Can Teach Us about Local Trade and the Global Market (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2012).
Langstroth, L. L., Langstroth’s Hive and the Honey-Bee: The Classic Beekeeper’s Manual (Mineola, NY: Dover, 2004).
Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Volume VI: Books 20–23, trans. Jones, W. H. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1951).
Seeley, T., Honeybee Democracy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010).
Snodgrass, R. E., The Anatomy of the Honey Bee (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985).
Tautz, J., The Buzz about Bees: Biology of a Superorganism, trans. Sandeman, D. C. (Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2008).
Virgil, Eclogues. Georgics. Aeneid: Books 1–6, trans. Rushton Fairclough, H., revised by Goold, G. P. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1916).
Wilson-Rich, N. W., The Bee: A Natural History (Lewes: Ivy Press, 2014).
Winston, M., The Biology of the Honeybee (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991).
Further Information
Becoming a beekeeper
You don’t need a lot of space to keep a hive; Viktor managed to keep one on the balcony of his apartment in Kiev. Wherever you live, if you’re thinking of getting a hive, it’s important to practise in a way that will support both your own colony and those in your vicinity.
The British Beekeepers Association’s BBKA Guide to Beekeeping and Alan Campion’s Bees at the Bottom of the Garden offer clear and manageable introductions; and if you’re interested in top-bar hives (I recommend them!), Top-Bar Beekeeping: Organic Practices for Honeybee Health by Les Crowder and Heather Harrell, and The Thinking Beekeeper: A Guide to Natural Beekeeping in Top Bar Hives by Christy Hemenway are particularly good. Readers in Australia or New Zealand may also like to try The Australian Beekeeping Manual by Robert Owen.
The local climate, weather systems, topography and patterns of land use will determine the kinds of issues your colony is faced with, so as a beekeeper it’s important to know your area. Look out for a good local beginner’s course, and join a beekeeping group; get a mentor who will be able to share their knowledge with you.
Simon the Beekeeper and Thorne are good stockists of hives and beekeeping equipment in the UK. Elvin is still making hives, and has now branched out from his shed – his company Major Beehives comes recommended.
Building pollinator-friendly habitats
Pollinators of all species urgently need more flowering and nesting habitats to be made available, and there are many ways that you can help make this happen. Grow more flowers, shrubs and trees; cut grass less often, and leave nests well alone; avoid using pesticides in the garden. Try talking to your local school, council or place of work and encouraging them to plant flowerbeds with species that will attract pollinators; get involved in campaigns to reduce pesticide use, and demand transparency as a consumer – ask your garden centre whether they can guarantee that their plants are free from pesticides, or find a nursery growing their own plants pesticide-free. To find out more, have a look at Buglife, Friends of the Earth, or Luke’s charity the Bee Friendly Trust – all are doing great work to promote pollinator-friendly planting.
First published in Great Britain by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2018
A CBS COMPANY
Copyright © Helen Jukes, 2018
SCRIBNER and design are registered trademarks of The Gale Group, Inc., used under licence by Simon & Schuster Inc.
The right of Helen Jukes to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
1st Floor
222 Gray’s Inn Road
London WC1X 8HB
Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney
Simon & Schuster India, New Delhi
www.simonandschuster.co.uk
www.simonandschuster.com.au
www.simonandschuster.co.in
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4711-6771-3
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4711-6773-7
eAudio ISBN: 978-1-4711-6897-0
The author and publishers have made all reasonable efforts to contact copyright-holders for permission, and apologise for any omissions or errors in the form of credits given. Corrections may be made to future printings.
Typeset by M Rules
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Simon & Schuster UK Ltd are committed to sourcing paper that is made from wood grown in sustainable forests and support the Forest Stewardship Council, the leading international forest certification organisation. Our books displaying the FSC logo are printed on FSC certified paper.
filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
