Bookshelf

NEWS FROM NJIRO

Low productivity in East African beekeeping

1997 80 pages. Paperback. Available from Bees for Development price £23.00 including postage

In May 1997 Nijiro Wildlife Research Centre in Tanzania organised workshop to address the problems facing beekeepers in East Africa. The Resolutions from this workshop were presented in B&D44. The Proceedings from this workshop are now published. They provide realistic assessment of current concerns for beekeepers. Informative papers discuss problems with the use of inappropriate equipment and management of honeybees, training and extension. Market potential, and problems in marketing are assessed. Reports from other projects are presented.

The workshop discussed all relevant factors and came out with firm conclusions and recommendations. These are required reading for anyone involved with promoting beekeeping in East Africa and beyond.

Njiro Wildlife Research Centre and Bees for Development are co-operating on three-year project “Sustainable Beekeeping for Africa” funded by the United Kingdom

Practical beekeeping

by Clive de Bruyn

1997 - 288 pages. Hardback. Available from Bees for Development price £30.00 including postage.

A fresh new text telling everything that the new beekeeper needs to know, and plenty of good advice and sound facts for established beekeepers too

As well as being highly experienced beekeeper, Clive de Bruyn is also skilled teacher and explainer of beekeeping. In this text he makes his wide knowledge easily accessible and understandable for all.

The 22 chapters are concise, and written to engage the reader’s interest. Essential facts are put together in boxes. There are plenty of clear illustrations, black and white, and colour pictures.

This book primarily, but not exclusively, describes British beekeeping and is written for everyone keeping European races of Apis mellifera in frame hives. There are some nice touches not found in other texts: dealing with telephone calls, photographic explanation of how to mix pollen supplement, and good advice for neighbourly relations.

A welcome new addition to the Bee Book Shelf

Textbook of melissopalynology

by Giancarlo Ricciardelli D’Albore

1997 308 pages. Paperback. Available from Bees for Development price £30.00 including postage

This new textbook will be required on the bookshelf of everyone with scientific interest in the pollen content of honeys. Professor Ricciardelli D’Albore provides huge amount of information. In Chapter One the author describes in detail how to study pollen. In Chapters Two and Three analysis of pollens found in honey in Italy and world-wide are described. Following this are dozens of photographs of pollen grains found in honeys world-wide. great amount of technical information, and black and white photographs are provided. Parts of the book relate specifically to Italy. It is well translated into English, and nicely presented by the Apimondia Publishing House: good quality, glossy paper has been used on which the photographs of pollen grains are well reproduced.

New information of value for palynologists in every country

Managing bees for crop pollination

Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturalists 1995 34 pages. Paperback. Available from Bees for Development price £8.00 including postage

A comprehensive guide for crop growers and beekeepers, concerning the biology and commercial management of bees for pollination. The bees being considered here are honeybees (Apis mellifera) kept in frame hives, although leafcutting bees (Megachile rotundata), orchard bees (Osmia lignania propinqua} and bumblebees (Bombus sp) are also discussed briefly.

The crops whose pollination requirements are described are those grown in Canada, but some are commonly grown world-wide. Appendix 1 shows how to assess the cost/benefit ratio of pollination services, and how to estimate the economic value of honeybees as crop pollinators. Appendix 2 gives the pollination requirement and honeybee colony stocking rates for about 40 crops grown in Canada.

Interestingly, the estimated total! value of honeybee pollination to Canadian agriculture is about Canadian $443million. This is approximately ten times greater than the annual farm value for honey and beeswax: about $49.6 million. The value of honeybee pollination represents 28% of the total farm value of 25 selected crops.

Mad about mead! nectar of the gods

by Pamela Spence

1997 208 pages. Paperback. Available from Bees for Development price £24.00 including postage

The chapters of this new book sparkle like the finest mead, full of the author’s good humour and love for her subject. All sorts of recipes are out for our exertainment like a street bazaar - a feast of experience, wisdom and interest. The author provides an eclectic range of recipes from the fool-proof to the extremely exotic, accompanied by stories, expert tips, and excellent illustrations.

Mead making is another way for beekeepers to diversify their craft, adding interest and income. Pamela Spence is the founder of the American Mead Association, and is skilled and certainly spirited mead maker. As she says, “Mead, with its sacred associations for many different religious and ethnic groups, has potential to come an economic backbone for many spiritual and co-operative communities”.

An encouraging, excellent and original new book, 3% of profits from the book go to support the work of Bees for Development!

Stinging tales of adventure

by Norman V Rice

1996 184 pages. Paperback. Available from Bees for Development price £12.00 including postage

Norman Rice is a commercial beekeeper in Queensland, Australia. Over fifty years or so he has built up huge enterprise, eventually focused producing 30,000 queens a year. His first book aptly titled “Queens’ Land” describe the running of huge company. In this new book describes his beekeeping travels, with Heather his wife and business partner, to many countries.

Land is also available from Bees for Development price £12.00

The organisation of foraging in stingless bees of the genus Melipona: an individual- oriented approach

by J C Biesmeijer

1997 263 pages. Paperback. In English with Dutch annexes. Available from Bees for Development price £25.00 including postage

This new book describes Koos Biesmeijer’s research on stingless bees carried out with colleagues at Utrecht University, Netherlands and in Costa Rica. The introduction includes description of the research 7% sites. The book includes studies on colony organisation, foraging behaviour, and the life history of stingless bee colonies.

This publication is certainly welcome as many people are interested in stingless bees but there has been relatively little information published in book format

Dr Biesmeijer’s work was funded by the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research.

Abejas sin aguijon: su biologia la organizacion de la colmena

by J C Biesmeijer

1997 77 pages. Paperback. In Bee Spanish. Available from Bees for de Development price £15.00 including postage

The biology of stingless bees and the organisation of the colony. Dr Biesmeijer hopes to publish this in an English edition.

Watch this space!!

EXPLANATION PLEASE!

Leafcutter bees cut oval pieces out of leaves and use them to line their nests. The nests are made in any suitable, ready-made space, for example in hollow stems, spaces in old wood, cracks in walls. There are over 1000 species of leafcutter bees all belonging to the genus Megachile.

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