Great Facebook Page: Historical Honeybee Articles - Beekeeping History

Historical Honeybee Articles - Beekeeping History

You really must follow this group if you use Facebook! 

 Here is an August 2019 "back to school" post to give you a feel for it.  I love the old photos they post.

The School Year Has Begun For Many Youngsters.
Here is a Lesson for Young Beekeepers
Via: Historical Honeybee Articles - Beekeeping History

Image: Circa 1902 to 1926 - Apis Mellifica School Room Wall Chart by Prof. Dr. Paul Pfurtscheller.

Dr. Paul Pfurtscheller was an Austria zoologist, known best for his series of 38 lithograph zoological school charts. He initially designed these pull down charts to use in his own classrooms, but they were quickly recognized as exceptional works, and began being used at the Zoological Institute University. These charts are very rare; printed between 1902 and 1926.

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The following article not related to above image.

circa. 1873 - Lessons for Young Beekeepers

Lesson 1 - Natural History

1. To what order of insects does the bee belong?

Hymenoptera.

2. Why so named?

Hymenoptera is from two Greek words that mean "wing'' and "membrane;" it is applied to all insects that have four membranous wings.

3. To what genus does the honey bee belong?

Apidae.

4. Why is it so named?

From the Latin Apis, a bee. From this word comes also apiary, apiarian, etc. This word apis is prefixed to some other term to denote the different species of the honey bee. Thus, Apis Mellifica, the common black bee; Apis Ligustica, or Apis Ligurienne, the Italian or Ligurian bee; Apis Fasciata, the Egyptian bee; Apis Indica, the East Indian species, and so on.

5. What is the meaning of Mellifica?

It is from two Latin words that mean "honey" and "to make," hence it means "honey-making." It might, with equal propriety, have been applied to any other species besides the black bee.

6. Describe the bee briefly.

A bee is a true insect that is, one that has six legs, four wings, and whose body is divided into three distinct parts or segments, called the Head, Thorax, and Abdomen.

7. Describe the head.

It is triangular in shape and is furnished with two compound eyes, three simple eyes, and two antennae.

8. Describe the compound eyes.

Viewed through the microscope, they seem to be made up of a great number of little eyes, hexagonal in shape and are arranged regularly. They seem to be fixed, incapable of motion.

-National Agriculturist.

Source:
The Indiana Progress, Indiana, Pennsylvania, April 03, 1873
1873 - Lessons for Young Beekeepers

Image: Apis Mellifica Wall Chart by Prof. Dr. Paul Pfurtscheller

1877 - German Beekeepers, and Advice from 1839

This engraving of "Honey Cutters" is fascinating to study. 

The apiary seems to be using sections (small wooden squares holding the comb), a more valuable and salable method of offering honey to the rightfully suspicious customers of that time.  Honey dilution with cheaper substances was rampant, and only comb honey guaranteed a pure product. 

Actually, the same issues are still with us, with imported honey being often incorrectly labeled as to origin.  Local beekeepers you know are the best source.  Farmers markets can even have opportunists who buy bulk honey and label it as their own "local" honey... so know your beekeepers!!

Honey cutting beekeepers, Lüneburg Heath, original wood engraving from 1877. 

The wood engraving is from a German family magazine from 1877. 

Size of the sheet: 24 x 15.5 cm.

(This is a translation using Google Translate and common sense rather than knowledge of German.)

For human consumption, honey is obtained by beekeepers who hive the bee colonies. In Europe, the honey harvest from the Middle Ages to the late 19th century was made by the Zeidler. The word comes from the Old German "zeideln" ("honey cut"). Cutting, because then - unlike today - the entire honeycomb was taken.  The survival of the bee colony was secondary. Honey and wax could be immediately recycled and further processed.   According to the extraction of the honey one distinguishes varieties. 

The beekeeper ( Imker )is engaged in the keeping, propagation or breeding of honey bees and the production of honey and other bee products. Beekeeper is a word combination from the Low German term Imme for "bee" and the Middle Low German word kar for "basket, vessel". Although everyone can be a beekeeper without a special training, there is also an associated apprenticeship with the official name Tierwirt, specializing in beekeeping. 

The Lüneburg Heath is a large, mostly flat-wave heathland, Geest and forest landscape in the northeast of Lower Saxony in the catchment areas of the cities of Hamburg, Bremen and Hanover. It is named after the city of Lüneburg.    (Original text at end of post.)

Getting around the problem of destroying a hive to gather the honey had many solutions offered over the years with the addition of sections placed on top of hives used in the illustration above. 
Here is a simple earlier one from 1839. 

Honig Schneiden Imker, Lüneburger Heide, Original-Holzstich von 1877. Der Holzstich stammt aus einer deutschen Familienzeitschrift von 1877. Die Rückseite des Blattes ist bedruckt. Größe des Blatts: 24 x 15,5 cm.

Honig ist ein von Honigbienen zur eigenen Nahrungsvorsorge erzeugtes und vom Menschen genutztes Lebensmittel aus. Für den menschlichen Gebrauch wird Honig durch Imker gewonnen, die die Bienenvölker hegen. In Europa erfolgte die Honigernte vom Mittelalter bis ins späte 19. Jahrhundert auch durch die Zeidler. Das Wort kommt vom altdeutschen „zeideln“ („Honig schneiden“). Schneiden deshalb, weil hier – anders als heute – die gesamte Honigwabe entnommen (erbeutet) wurde; dabei war der Fortbestand des Bienenvolkes nachrangig. Honig und Wachs konnten sofort verwertet und weiterverarbeitet werden. Entsprechend der Gewinnung des Honigs unterscheidet man Sorten.

Der Imker beschäftigt sich mit der Haltung, der Vermehrung oder der Züchtung von Honigbienen und der Produktion von Honig und weiterer Bienenprodukte. Imker ist eine Wortzusammensetzung aus dem niederdeutschen Begriff Imme für „Biene“ und dem mittelniederdeutschen Wort kar für „Korb, Gefäß“. Imker darf zwar jeder ohne eine spezielle Ausbildung sein, trotzdem gibt es auch einen zugehörigen Lehrberuf mit der amtlichen Bezeichnung Tierwirt, Fachrichtung Imkerei.

Die Lüneburger Heide ist eine große, überwiegend flachwellige Heide-, Geest- und Waldlandschaft im Nordosten Niedersachsens in den Einzugsgebieten der Städte Hamburg, Bremen und Hannover. Sie ist benannt nach der Stadt Lüneburg.