Huber's New Observations Upon Bees The Complete Volumes I & II

by Francis Huber, Charles Pierre Dadant (Translator), Michael Bush (Compiler)

Overview

What Huber discovered and wrote about here, laid the ground work for all the practical knowledge we have of bees today. His discoveries were so revolutionary, that beekeeping can be divided in two eras very easily as pre-Huber and post-Huber.

This edition of Huber's Observations by far surpasses any other edition ever printed in the English language.

First it has both Volume I and II, while every English edition currently in print that I am aware of is only Volume I of the 1809 edition. which is only a third of the final Huber book. The second volume was published in 1814 in French 5 years after that 1809 edition and contains Huber's research on the origin of wax, the construction of comb, the ventilation of the hive and much more.

Second, it is the best English translation from the original French and the only one I know of that has both volumes. C.P. Dadant, was uniquely qualified to do the translation. Dadant was born in France and French was his first language, yet he spent most of his life beekeeping; and writing and editing beekeeping articles and books in America in English.

Third, all of the English editions currently in print have only 2 plates (if any). Only the previous Dadant edition (1926) had all 14 of the original plates but unfortunately they were only halftones of some old yellow copies and are not very readable. This edition has new scans from a very good condition edition of the original 1814 French of both Volumes of Nouvelles Observations Sur Les Abeilles so these are clearer than any previous edition other than the original 1814 French edition. An additional engraving of Huber's work from Cheshire's book, plus an engraving of Francis Huber from the Dadant edition have been included. In addition, 7 more photos of a museum quality reproduction of Huber's Leaf hive have also been included. All figures have been split out and enlarged and put in the text where they are referred to. Photos of the original plates are included at the back for historic and artistic purposes.

Fourth, to put this book in context I have included a memoir of Huber by Professor De Candolle, a friend of Huber. This gives a bit of background on Huber's life.

Fifth, the only other edition to come close to this, the 1926 edition by Dadant, was in very small print. This one is 12 point and a typeface that appears to be larger and is very readable.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614760566
Publisher:	X-STAR PUBLISHING COMPANY
Publication date:	01/09/2012
Pages:	674
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.63(d)
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

François Huber was only fifteen years old when he began to suffer from a disease which gradually resulted in total blindness; but, with the aid of his wife, Marie Aimée Lullin, and of his servant, François Burnens, he was able to carry out investigations that laid the foundations of a scientific knowledge of the life history of the honey bee. His Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles was published at Geneva in 1792. Further observations were published as Volume II of the same in 1814. What he discovered laid the ground work for all the practical knowledge we have of bees today. His discoveries were so revolutionary, that beekeeping can be divided in two eras very easily as pre-Huber and post-Huber.

"In publishing my observations upon honeybees, I will not conceal the fact that it was not with my own eyes that I made them. Through a concourse of unfortunate accidents, I became blind in my early youth; but I loved sciences, I did not lose the taste for them when I lost the organs of sight. I caused the best works on physics and natural history to be read to me: I had for reader a servant (Francis Burnens, born in the canton of Vaud), who became extraordinarily interested in all that he read to me: I judged readily, from his remarks upon our readings, and through the consequences which he knew how to draw, that he was comprehending them as well as I, and that he was born with the talents of an observer. This is not the first example of a man who, without education, without wealth, and in the most unfavorable circumstances, was called by Nature alone to become a naturalist. I resolved to cultivate his talent and to use it someday for the observations which I planned: with this purpose, I caused him to reproduce at first some of the most simple experiments of physics; he executed these with much skill and intelligence; he then passed to more difficult combinations. I did not then possess many instruments, but he knew how to perfect them, to apply them to new uses, and when it became necessary, he made himself, the machines which we needed. In these diverse occupations, the taste which he had for the sciences soon became a veritable passion, and I hesitated no longer to vie him my entire confidence, feeling sure to see well when seeing through his eyes."--Francis Huber

C.P. Dadant, was uniquely qualified to do this translation. Dadant was born in France and French was his first language, yet he spent most of his life beekeeping; and writing and editing beekeeping articles and books in America in English.

Table of Contents

Volume I 1
Preface by the Author 3
1st Letter-Upon the Fecundation of the Queen Bee 6
Letter from Mr. Bonnet to Mr. Huber Upon Bees 26
Mr. Bonnet's suggestion's for experiments on the Fecundation of Bees 27
Artificial fecundation 27
2nd Letter-Fecundation of the Queen Bee Continued 31
3rd Letter-Queens Whose Fecundation Is Delayed 51
4th Letter-On Schirach's Discovery 66
5th Letter-Worker Bees Laying Fertile Eggs 72
6th Letter-On the Combats of Queens, Massacre of Males, etc 81
...and on what Happens in a Hive When a Strange Queen Is Substituted for the Natural One. 7th Letter-Reception of Strange Queens 94
8th Letter-Is the Queen Bee Oviparous? Spinning of Cocoons, Sizes of Cells and Bees 98
9th Letter-On the Formation of Swarms 110
10th Letter-On the Formation of Swarms Continued 124
11th Letter-On the Formation of Swarms Continued 134
12th Letter-Queens Laying Drone Eggs, Queens Deprived of Their Antennae 141
13th Letter-Economical Views on Bees 149
Volume II 161
Preface 163
Foreword of the Editor 166
Introduction 167
Chapter I: My opinions on Beeswax 183
Chapter II: On the Origin of Wax 212
Chapter III: On the Architecture of Bees 225
Chapter IV: Continuation of the Architecture of bees 243
Chapter V: Modifications in the Architecture of Bees 350
Appendix on the Architecture of Bees 366
Chapter VI: Completion of the Cells 384
Chapter VII: On a New Enemy of the Bees 400
Chapter VIII: On the Respiration of Bees 409
Chapter IX: On the Senses of Bees and Especially that of Smell 431
Chapter X: Researches on the Use of Antennae 444
...in some Complicated Operations of the bees
Address reproaches on Mr. Schirach by Mr. Monticelli 467
Schirach's method of artificial swarming 468
Unedited letters of Huber 474
Introduction By Edouard Bertrand 475
A reproduction of Huber's Leaf Hive 608
Plates from 1814 edition of Nouvelles Observations Sur Les Abeilles 613
Memoir of Huber by Professor De Candolle 631

Editorial Reviews

"I will not enumerate all that apiarian science owes to Huber; to state what it does not owe were the briefer task. His "New Observation on Bees," of which the first volume was written in 1789, in the form of letters to Charles Bonnet, the second not appearing till twenty years later, have remained the unfailing, abun-dant treasure into which every subsequent writer has dipped. And though a few mistakes may be found therein, a few incomplete truths; though since his time considerable additions have been made to the micrography and practical culture of bees, the han-dling of queens, etc., there is not a single one of his principal statements that has been disproved, or discovered in error; and in our actual experience they stand untouched, and indeed at its very foundation."-- Maurice Maeterlinck, The Life of the Bee

From the Publisher