The first collection of the Cahiers of Apistoria gathers together in issues 1 to 15 the work of the Association’s members and illustrates the technical and scientific activity of Apistoria since its creation. Over the years these publications have contributed to our knowledge of traditional beekeeping as well as the preservation of our beekeeping heritage, and today they represent a well-established body of bibliographical reference.
On opening this Cahier No.16, the reader will rediscover the rules of rigour and originality defined by Apistoria for putting together this publication. The possibility of presenting their work and publishing it in the Cahiers of Apistoria is reserved for active members of the Association.
In the first part the reader will discover traditional beekeeping of the Cévennes region with its tree-trunk hives, and the dovecote-apiaries and cupboard hives so typical of the Auvergne – regions visited during the recent sessions of Apistoria. Mende (48, France) October 2017 Session and Veyre-Monton (63, France) April 2018 Session.
The second part, devoted to publications of site visits, describes in detail the rich and varied beekeeping heritage of the Aude département.
In the third part le reader will be invited to enjoy some less technical texts.
Happy reading!
Lozère and Puy-de-Dôme, departments of the French Massif Central
Nature shapes landscapes in which man leaves his mark. The importance of built beekeeping heritage, like any other indigenous heritage, can only be understood through knowledge of its regional context. That is why we wanted to place each of the two circuits presented in its natural environment: relief, climate and vegetation but also through its traditions and popular customs.
Lozère and Puy-de-Dôme, departments of the French Massif Central, have very different apicultural heritages.
South-facing in its Cévenole part, Lozère is a region that has preserved its fauna and flora. Beekeeping traditions remain well anchored. Ancestral beekeeping with its beehives dug into chestnut trunks, populated by the local bees and grouped in dry stone enclosures, rubs shoulders with present-day beekeeping.
The Puy-de-Dôme region of lakes, volcanoes and fertile plains has gradually opened up to industrialization and agricultural mechanization around the main cities. Its traditional beekeeping heritage, often integrated into residential or farm buildings, has now been largely replaced by modern beekeeping.
The Castelet des Crozes Apiary
The castle of Castelet des Crozes, built at the end of the eighteenth century, is located at Castelnaudary in the Aude département (France). Originally it was a mediaeval dwelling with outbuildings.
Maps dating from the eighteenth century show traces of a bee shelter and a covered apiary. The shelter is comprised of 9 compartments designed for bees, separated each 5m by reinforcements, along a supporting wall of an orchard and a vegetable garden. The hives, five in each compartment, were placed on large slabs of stone. The covered apiary, on the edge of the property, has a tiled roof with two sides, under which ten hives were placed on a bench measuring 10m, divided by a pillar supporting the roof.
There are several questions concerning this apiary, and some attempts at replying to them have been made here
The Mona Hive
The popular fixed-frame hive adopted by the Ticinese Beekeeping Association (Switzerland) was developed by Agostino Mona in 1876. It is a mixed hive made of wood, capable of containing eight fixed frames laid out lengthwise, and, in the honey chamber above, nine mobile frames placed crosswise. This hive, which could be used by both “fixists” and “mobilists” alike, became, in the words of Henri Hamet, “a hive of reconciliation”.
The Clay Beehive of Caves
The discovery of broken pieces of clay at Caves, in the Aude département, made it possible to establish that they were part of a clay-coil beehive whose characteristics it was possible to define. This vertical hive was found among other hives made from wooden planks and cannot be confused with horizontal clay hives.
Many theories have been advanced about this hive, which have led the author to look for answers in beekeeping literature and to ask the opinion of older beekeepers.
The conclusion he draws is that once again research into traditional beekeeping is a game of chance, and there is always a danger that a channel that should have been explored has been neglected through ignorance.
Historical Evolution of the Beehive according to Ruttner
At the 27th Congress of Apimondia in Athens in 1979, the Austrian entomologist Friedrich Ruttner gave a conference on the historical evolution of the beehive. Basing his theories on a considerable quantity of photographs and explanatory diagrams, he demonstrated the different processes which, over time, had led to various models of hive to end up with, round about 1850, those with mobile frames with an upper or lower opening.
Between Corbières and the Minervois in the Time of Trunk-hives. The Beekeeper and his Tools
The first part of the text reminds us of what a beekeeper is, and what his work consists of. The second part describes his equipment and the tools he would have used in the relatively recent past, although no longer nowadays, particularly in Occitania. The author wonders whether the country beekeeper was a man, or woman, like other people: solitary, misanthropic, or a poet. Did he always use specific equipment? How did he go about smoking the bees out before retrieving their honey? What tools did he use for removing thehoney frames, for cleaning them, for chasing the bees at the moment of the honey harvest, for capturing the swarms – especially when these had taken refuge somewhere very high up. How, and in what recipient, was the honey collected?
Memories
The author tells us two stories about the time when his beekeeping museum was open to the public. The first talks about things to be put in the category of “Enemies of Bees”. The second relates how a little boy who had sprayed his father’s bees with paint was able to tell the distance they had travelled.