eY
Honey
BOOKSHELF Two major new Directories
from IBRA
1.
Directory of Important World
Honey Sources by Eva
Crane, Penelope Walker and Rosemary Day, ISBN 086098-141-X, 384 pp. 1984
IBRA
has been collecting data on honey sources for over 15 years, with a view to undertaking a world survey when funding could be obtained. In 1981 the Interna-
tonal Development Research Council in Canada agreed to such funding and the Directory of Important World Honey Sources was published last September. The Directory is packed with new data; it has entries for 467 nectar or honeydewProducing plants that are major honey Sources. Some of the sources are geographically widespread, such as lucerne and many of the eucalypts; others are much more localised, such as the leatherwood found in Tasmania. Each entry gives details of the plant and its economic uses, flowering period, nectar or honeydew flow, pollen production, and the chemical and physical properties of its honey, including flavour, aroma and granulation. Certain components of each entry have been coded so that programmed searches can be made for plants with particular Characteristics. There are 51 different search fields, and the Directory includes lists made by using some of them e.g. drought tolerant plants. The Directory makes it possible, for the first time, to
comprehensive work has been published on pollination, this book was compiled (with financial support from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs), to help growers and agronomists find out what specific crops require to achieve optimal pollination and therefore highest economical yield. This Directory provides information on more than 400 crop plants grown in tropical, subtropical or temperate zones. The entries are written in narrative style using few technical terms, and a glossary and index of names help to make the book easy to use. Full references and other useful lists are also provided. The crops listed in the book show
astonishing variations in pollination answer questions such as: Which of the world’s important honeys remain liquid for a year or more? Which are at risk of granulation within a few days of storage in the hive? Which honeys have been reported to contain a toxic substance? Do some countries have important honey sources that are not being exploited because they are not recognised as such? (Rubber, Hevea brasiliansis, and New Zealand beech, Nothofagus, have only recently been recognised and exploited as important honey sources.) The EEC regulations lay down a number of upper/lower limits for honey characteristics: how do the actual ranges measured for important honeys world-wide compare with the EEC requirements? The Directory includes references, and three indexes: common names of the plants, Latin synonyms, and insects which produce honeydew. The Directory is available from IBRA, price 27.50 post paid. Under the terms of the IDRC grant it has already been distributed by IBRA to certain libraries and resource centres in developing countries.
gt
Lost-wax casting: a practitioner’s manual by Wilburt Fein-
Directory for World Crops by Eva Crane and Penelope Walker, ISBN 0-86098-143-6, 184 pp. 1984
This is the second major Directory pub-
IBRA in
Other publications
etek
2. Pollination
lished by
mechanisms and requirements, and knowledge of these by the grower can be important; inadequate pollination is a major constraint to yields from some crops. For example, on irrigated desert land, crops which require insect pollination may fail because suitable insects are not present. Many crop plants require insect pollination, and often the best way to ensure this is to place colonies of honeybees nearby, and recommendations as to the number of hives necessary are quoted wherever possible. Of course not all the crops mentioned require insect pollination, some are self-pollinating and other pollinating agents mentioned include gravity, wind, bats, birds and rain. This Directory is available from IBRA, price 14.00 post paid. The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also provided funding for the book to be distributed by IBRA to certain libraries in developing countries.
1984. Because so little
burg: edited and illustrated by Jim Byrne. ISBN 0O-
903031-88-4.
74
pp.
Many blackand white photographs and line drawings. 1983
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