The Golden Age Of Beekeeping, Borst
The Golden Age of Beekeeping
In this book I tell the story not only of the bringing of honey bees to America, but also how beekeeping changed from a minor accompaniment to the family’s garden, to a significant industry more like dairy farming. The beekeeper went from being a slightly odd character having some secret knowledge and a bit of tolerance for bee stings—to a major partner in the industrial revolution.
All of this took a few of centuries. Strictly speaking, though, the Golden Age is the period from 1865 when The American Bee Journal began its unbroken print run (which continues to this day), to about 1920, when the use of motorized cars and trucks changed beekeeping forever.
Peter Loring Borst was born in Boston and grew up in San Diego. In 1974, he decided to become a professional beekeeper, and was hired by an outfit which comprised over 2000 bee hives and a few unskilled men. Over the following years, he worked for several commercial outfits and did a 5 year stint in a beekeeping supply factory.
In 1991 he moved to upstate New York where he worked as senior apiarist at Cornell’s Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies. Peter served for many years as president of the Finger Lakes Beekeepers Club, and also as its apiary manager. From about 2010 on, he has been a regular contributor to the American Bee Journal, and has also been published in Bee Culture, Bee World, and others.
For several years he traveled to many states to do presentations based upon his writing. Now in his 70s, he has cut back to a dozen hives and produces honey to sell locally. He lives in a house in the woods outside of Ithaca, NY with his wife and a profusion of wildlife including possums, raccoons, and bears.
VIEW Book Review
Reviewed by Ann Chilcott (Scottish Expert Beemaster) and author of THE BEELISTENER
The Golden Age of Beekeeping is a fascinating history of beekeeping in the USA from the early pioneering days to the modern beekeeping world of the 20th Century. Author Peter Borst has done a thorough job of researching and selecting detailed information, and presenting it in a very readable way. Borst has had a long professional career in beekeeping, and contributes to various beekeeping journals, including the American Bee Journal, on a regular basis. Some of this work has already been published separately in magazine articles, but they have been seamlessly woven into this history to flow fluently as a story of the development of beekeeping primarily in the US, but Borst touches briefly on Central and South American beekeeping.
There are 21 chapters with a useful reference list at the end of each one. Throughout the book there are old photographs, advertisements, newspaper articles, and quotations from famous beekeepers to give substance to the stories.
We learn how the early settlers obtained honey from chopping down bee trees before they started managing bees in straw skeps. There is a chapter on Langstroth who was one of the most influential beekeepers in American history at a time when new inventions were gathering momentum and the patent wars began. As beekeepers moved away from skep beekeeping, designing the ideal hive was key and many different types were invented and tried out in those early days. The Harbison hive, for example, was designed with a back opening similar to the Slovenian hives of today.
The Harbison brothers were the real entrepreneurs of their day, which was the Californian gold rush days of 1848-49. They knew that most of the real money to be made was by supplying provisions etc to the gold prospectors and diggers. So, they move south to California. They revolutionised honey by using extractors and producing liquid honey which quickly gained popularity over comb honey. They shipped train-loads of sage honey back East and influenced agriculture in the fertile Central Valley of California. Farmers at the time lacked knowledge around pollination and thought that honey bees were bad for their crops. It is intriguing to consider how beekeeping influenced both social change and agriculture.
Every aspect of beekeeping history is explored from the early scientific discoveries of the late 1800’s, with contributions from Riley and Benton, to the literature and development of journals and conferences to share early science-based information.
Did you know that large scale beekeeping was first practiced by the early Egyptians? We discover how the new motorised vehicle designs of the early 1900’s facilitated moving bees on a large scale and contributed to the development of commercial beekeeping in the US.
Women beekeepers feature in this beekeeping history. We read about colourful characters such as Ellen Tupper who was a great champion for women in beekeeping though not always accurate in her facts, and prone to making false claims.
The Golden Age of Beekeeping should be on the recommended reading list of every Master Beekeeper Course in the US. It is an important book for beekeepers interested in the heritage of their vocation, or avocation, especially those in the US. However, anyone interested in beekeeping and history will enjoy it as it provides a marvellous insight into our past, and how we arrived at the present state of beekeeping in the 21st Century.
Unavailable