The Honey-Makers

Half natural history, half literature: how the honey-bee actually works — tongue, wings, sting, swarm — and then three thousand years of what people have believed about her, from the Vedas to mead.

The Honey-Bee

3 pages in this part of The Honey-Makers.

The Honey-Bee

LITERATURE is filled with the Honey-makers and their incomparable gift, which appears now as ambrosia, now as nectar, and always as the…

The Honey-Bee: Europe

To fertilize the flowers has always been the office of the bee, as we can see now that the processes of nature are understood. But it…

The Honey-Bee: Hymenoptera

Insects, according to certain peculiarities in structure, have been divided into several Orders, one of which contains butterflies, another…

Rights & ReuseThe complete text of The Honey-Makers (1899) is in the public domain in the United States — like all works published before 1928 — and is free to read, download, quote, teach from, and reuse. This digital edition (its transcription, restored images, and site design) is © 2026 PhotoOpAI, and any editorial commentary we add is clearly marked as ours; the underlying public-domain text carries no such restriction.