Bookshelf

The World Guide 1997/98

compiled by The Third World Institute

New Internationalist Publications, London, United Kingdom (1997) 624 pages. Paperback. Available from Bees for Development price £32.00

Bees for Development's copy of The World Guide is already an indispensable part of our office library. We thought you also would like to know about this wonderful book. It is an extremely useful guide for anyone interested in development, international issues, figures and facts about every country.

The major part of the book provides profile of 217 countries of the world, giving information on population, languages, etc. There are plenty of statistics, ranging from country’s external debt to the number of telephones per 100 inhabitants. There are profiles of issues environment, society, the state. There is concise account of each country’s development through history up to 1996.

Honey bee diseases and pests

edited by Cynthia Scott-Dupree

Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturalists, Guelph, Canada (1996 2nd edition) 26 pages. Paperback. Available from Bees for Development price £6.00

Most beekeepers do not want to know more than they need to about honeybee disease. But these days the control of disease has become an unavoidable part of honeybee management. This book provides just what most beekeepers want: a very short and straightforward guide to all the diseases and pests that we have to contend with. The twenty six pages of text and excellent colour pictures will help you to readily diagnose any of the usual problems affecting honeybees. Up to date advice is given on how to control the problem, and if possible how to prevent it in the future. Varroa control and treatment is of course included. Colony abnormalities like chilled brood, dysentery and pesticide poisoning are also well covered.

This is an excellent, readable publication that will be of real help to beekeepers

Bee Products: properties, ‘applications, and apitherapy

edited by Avshalom Mizrahi and Yaacov Lensky

Plenum Press, London, United Kingdom (1997) 284 pages. Hardback. Available from Bees for Development price £65.00

Bee products are those materials that humans harvest from bees’ nests. These include not only honey and beeswax, but also propolis, venom and royal jelly.

At Bees for Development we are often asked to suggest books that discuss these products in a scientific way. At last we can recommend this new publication discussing the chemical composition, pharmacological effects and other properties of bee products. Bee Products has 31 chapters. The first is an introduction by Dr Eva Crane into the importance of bee products to humans. This is followed by 30 chapters each by different expert discussing particular aspects of honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly or venom.

This book will be of value to those interested in scientific approaches to the use of bee products for health treatments.

Breeding queens

by Gilles Fert

OPIDA, Echauffour, France (1997) 104 pages. Paperback. In French, Italian and Spanish editions also. Available from Bees for Development price £14.00

Mr Fert is an expert beekeeper and breeder of queens. His book is designed to help those beekeepers who want to rear just few good queens, as well as those who want to rear more. Individual beekeepers can easily select the best queens which to breed their own stock. These queens will be well suited to their region, and can be used to breed further replacements. Information is given about mating, marking and caging queens. The production and use of package bees is described. There is chapter on instrumental insemination, and a useful bibliography is also included.

The book is clearly written, and very well illustrated. Beekeepers often think that queen rearing is difficult. This book should help to revise their opinion.

Workshop to revive Apis cerana indica

Palni Hills Conservation Council, Tamil Nadu, India (1996) 68 pages. Paperback. Available from Bees for Development price £10.00

This new publication brings articles discussing the Asian hive bee, Apis cerana. For many beekeepers in Asia, Apis cerana beekeeping has suffered from the presence of Thai sacbrood virus disease. This virus has recently caused severe problems in southern India: however authors quoted here consider that the virus has run its course and resistant colonies have arisen. In the future Thai sacbrood in Apis cerana will be like the sacbrood diseases found in the ‘European’ honeybee Apis mellifera: disease whose symptom are under stress.

The articles discuss the beekeeping in several states of India, as well as Nepal. There are also three articles relating to beekeeping in East and West Africa.

This book is the printed proceedings of an international workshop held in Tamil Nadu, South Ph eee India in June 1996. At the end of the workshop the participants proposed series of resolutions outlining sensible policy for beekeeping development in India, and these are included.

Managed crop pollination: the missing dimension of mountain agricultural productivity

by Uma Partap and Tej Partap ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal (1997) 26 pages. Paperback. Available from Bees for Development price £5.00

This booklet discusses the management of honeybees and other insects for the pollination of different crops. It compares the foraging behaviour of Apis cerana and Apis mellifera in relation to pollination of various fruit crops, and their suitability for crop pollination in different zones.

In future there will be great need for managing the pollination of crops in mountain areas of Asia. A strong case is made for the conservation and promotion of Apis cerana, as Apis cerana is apparently better pollinator at low temperatures than Apis mellifera. The authors found that in Nepal Apis cerana begins foraging at temperatures 5-7°C lower than those that initiate Apis mellifera foraging.

EXPLANATION PLEASE!

Honeybee morphometry is the study of the shape and size of honeybees. Different races of honeybees vary in their morphometry, for example tongue, wing and leg lengths.

VIDEO SHELF

The honeybee’s fingerprint: simple methods of distinguishing honeybee races

BIBBA, Derby, United Kingdom. VHS. Running time 90 minutes. Available from Bees for Development price £20.00 including airmail postage and packing

Mr Eric Milner has made an extensive study of honeybee morphometry and its place in bee breeding. This was filmed at workshop covering the reasons for bee breeding programmes and provides information on simple morphometric techniques to allow accurate identification of the various European honeybee races. A video for the dedicated enthusiast.

Queen rearing

BIBBA, Derby, United Kingdom (1988) VHS. Running time 105 minutes. Available from Bees for Development price £20.00 including airmail postage and packing

This video is ideal for both beginner and experienced beekeepers. It consists of six demonstrations of colony assessment; starter colonies; larval transfer; finisher colonies; making up nuclei; and queen introduction

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