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 Wings

2 pages in this part of The Honey-Makers.

The Wings

In the long-bodied, golden-hued Italian bee, the wings are not more than three-fourths the length of the abdomen. Clinging to the flowers…

The Wings: Hark

Our modern poets are still enamoured of the voice of the bee, and Rogers stops us thus, finger on lip, - "Hark! the bee winds her small…

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.