“As long as I can remember, even as a boy, there were bees kept on our farm,” wrote Jacob Biggle in his preface to The Biggle Bee Book. “If for no other reason than to insure the proper fertilization of fruit and other blossoms, every farmer, fruit grower, or gardener should keep a few bees upon his grounds.” Biggle’s fifty colonies of bees, though requiring just a small part of his time, paid Biggle a larger return than any other animal on his farm. Not only did he take pleasure in caring for these wonderful insects and enjoying the honey they produced, he also recognized that their presence on his farm meant that his orchards and crops would flourish. If there are any so-called secrets to the art of beekeeping, Jacob Biggle does his best to expose them all in this delightful little volume. His hope was that readers could profit from his hard-earned wisdom that included: The benefits of keeping bees How to care for bees through the winter The marketing and selling of wax- and honey-based products What bee-friendly plants to raise in the garden How to introduce a new queen to the hive Written not only for the professional beekeeper, but also for the backyard farmer, and anyone interested in rural life, self-sufficiency, and farming techniques of the past, this book is an essential addition to the home library.

This special re-print edition of Jacob Biggle's book "Biggle Bee Book" has not been available to those interested in farming, homesteading and self reliance since it first appeared on the scene back in 1909. The demand for this rare book has brought forth the much needed reprint of this famous classic work. Included in this famous historic publication are age-proven details on how to raise bees for home and farm honey production. This legendary book is part of the famous Biggle Farm Book series. Note: This public domain edition is a perfect facsimile of the original edition and is not set in a modern typeface. As a result, some type characters and images might suffer from slight imperfections or minor shadows in the page background. This edition is reprinted in accordance to Federal Law.

Honey has been an important food for people for thousands of years. Their desire for it led to the, domestication of bees, through crafting artificial beehives and manipulating the bees' food sources. But quite apart from the harvests of honey and wax, the life-giving role of bees in pollinating many plants that people rely on for food, has made them the stuff of legend, mystery, worship and, nowadays, also controversy. Although some people believe that our reliance on bees for the cultivation of food crops is much exaggerated (as some major staples like rice, wheat and even potatoes don't need them), there is no doubt that there are many crops whose very survival depends on bees. And that is why the recent, somewhat mysterious decline in bee populations around the world is so concerning to people who worry about the future of our natural environment. Anyone interested in growing food, who wants to find out what a beehive or two will give them, even on such a small scale as the suburban backyard or the terrace-house garden, will find this book an indispensable introduction to keeping bees.

Excerpt from Biggle Bee Book: A Swarm of Facts on Practical Bee-Keeping, Carefully Hived She deposits her eggs one by one in the cells, and in twenty-one days the fully matured worker comes forth. At times she will, by holding her abdomen in a certain position, deposit infertile eggs which produce drone bees, and it usually takes twenty-four days for these eggs to hatch. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Whether you are a novice looking to get started with bees, an experienced apiculturist looking for ideas to develop an integrated pest-management approach, or someone who wants to sell honey at a premium price, this is the book you’ve been waiting for. Now revised and updated with new resources and including full-color photos throughout, Natural Beekeeping offers all the latest information in a book that has already proven invaluable for organic beekeepers. The new edition offers the same holistic, sensible alternative to conventional chemical practices with a program of natural hive management, but offers new sections on a wide range of subjects, including: The basics of bee biology and anatomy Urban beekeeping Identifying and working with queens Parasitic mite control Hive diseases Also, a completely new chapter on marketing provides valuable advice for anyone who intends to sell a wide range of hive products. Other chapters include: Hive Management Genetics and Breeding The Honey Harvest The Future of Organic Beekeeping Ross Conrad brings together the best “do no harm” strategies for keeping honeybees healthy and productive with nontoxic methods of controlling mites; eliminating American foulbrood disease without the use of antibiotics; selective breeding for naturally resistant bees; and many other detailed management techniques, which are covered in a thoughtful, matter-of-fact way.