What do you think?
Rate this book
Brother Adam- In Search of the Best Strains of Bees
Book by Brother, Adam, Adam, Brother
208 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1983
3 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Brother Adam
9 books4 followersKarl Kehrle OBE, known as Brother Adam, was a Benedictine monk, beekeeper, and an authority on bee breeding, developer of the Buckfast bee.
Early in the twentieth century, one of the youngsters who came to Buckfast from Germany with a view to joining the community was assigned to assist Br. Columban. This was Br. Adam Kehrle. He began helping Br. Columban at the tender age of twelve, but he was destined to continue working with the bees for over seventy eight years and to become an international authority in the field.
Soon after Br. Adam joined Brother Columban, thirty out of the Abbey's forty-six colonies were wiped out by a disease known as Acarine. All of the bees that died were of the native British black bee variety. This bee was renowned for being hardy, but somewhat ill-tempered. The bees that survived the outbreak were all of Italian origin.
In 1919, after Brother Columban retired, Brother Adam was put in charge of the bees, and he set about rebuilding the colonies. His intention was to use cross-breeding to develop a new bee which would be hardy like the black bee, but disease-resistant like the Italian bee, and a good honey producer.
Brother Adam made extensive journeys all over the world to get breeding stock. He concentrated on countries with a distinct indigenous race of bees, going chiefly to isolated country regions where the purity of the native strains had been maintained. He even went to the Sahara. Over the years, he travelled more than 100,000 miles in search of bees.
(Wikipedia/Karl Kehrle)
(buckfast.org.uk)
Early in the twentieth century, one of the youngsters who came to Buckfast from Germany with a view to joining the community was assigned to assist Br. Columban. This was Br. Adam Kehrle. He began helping Br. Columban at the tender age of twelve, but he was destined to continue working with the bees for over seventy eight years and to become an international authority in the field.
Soon after Br. Adam joined Brother Columban, thirty out of the Abbey's forty-six colonies were wiped out by a disease known as Acarine. All of the bees that died were of the native British black bee variety. This bee was renowned for being hardy, but somewhat ill-tempered. The bees that survived the outbreak were all of Italian origin.
In 1919, after Brother Columban retired, Brother Adam was put in charge of the bees, and he set about rebuilding the colonies. His intention was to use cross-breeding to develop a new bee which would be hardy like the black bee, but disease-resistant like the Italian bee, and a good honey producer.
Brother Adam made extensive journeys all over the world to get breeding stock. He concentrated on countries with a distinct indigenous race of bees, going chiefly to isolated country regions where the purity of the native strains had been maintained. He even went to the Sahara. Over the years, he travelled more than 100,000 miles in search of bees.
(Wikipedia/Karl Kehrle)
(buckfast.org.uk)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 31, 2016
As a hobby beekeeper I found this book instructive and inspiring.
The book is divided into 2 main parts. Eighty per cent concerns adventures across the European continent and North Africa is search of the best bees with which to establish a breeding programme in South Devon. About 100,000 miles in the middle of the twentieth century meeting with Europe's bee keeping elite; such an exciting escapade. The book begins " exactly a century has elapsed since the invention of the modern hive.” To Brother Adam this is the point - to find the best material for the bee suitable for the modern bee keeping and take advantage of hybrid vigour as opposed to keep seeking improvement by line breeding.
In France B.Adam visits Corbieres and finds the French bee lacking “ I came across some of the most horrible mongrels I have ever seen.” He is concerned that Central European bees are susceptible to brood diseases.
As he travels he calls upon the most renowned Bee keeping institutions and personalities. For example In Switzerland he samples Alpenrosen honey with Anna Maurizio whose work is often quoted in other Beekeeping literature. It is at this point that a slight irritation creeps in. Sometimes the obsequious effusions can cover whole paragraphs yet that irritation quickly softens to affection. B. Adam is so engaging on the subject of bees. He is impressed with the Nigra honeybee in Switzerland and blames “ faulty breeding” for the fact that this characteristics of this bee are not found in Germany. In addition he has found in his own apiary it swarms to excess. His comment on the Swiss beehouses “excessive protection, and the excessive heat”. B. Adam concludes that in Switzerland the beekeeping methods and type of bee are not for Devon.
In Austria B. Adam encounters the famous Carniolan ; South of Tauern and in Carinthia and Carniola. He says it is similar to the Italian with grey over hair. “Exatraordinary docility” Easily shaken off combs” “hardiness longevity and wing power””forms small colonies in the autumn, and consequently manages to winter on a minimum of stores … in contradiction to the Italian” “ honey producer par excellence “exceptional tongue reach ..red clover…good comb builder..paper white cappings …less propolis. He warns that the right strain must be chosen to get these qualities and again encounters the problem of “swarming propensity”
In Italy “the world-wide popularity of the Italian bee is beyond dispute” yet there are problems “ tends to breed to excess at the conclusion of the main honey flow..extravagant with stores.. not thrifty and lacks the hardiness, longevity and wing power manifested in varying degrees by most other races. It drifts badly.. subject to spring dwindling”. B. Adam prefers the leather coloured bee from the Ligurian Alps between La Spezia and Genoa. He found the bright yellow bee further South tended to propolise more.
In Sicily he found the bees feasting on Carob.
In Germany near the shores of Lake Constance B. Adam visits Professor Dr L. Armbruster who once ran the Berlin Dahlen Bee Research Institute. They agree that the aim of breeding honeybees should be to produce a bee that provides maximum returns for minimum effort. B. Adam found the Algau similar to Devon with plenty of dandelions to provide honeybee nectar. In this region bee keepers have adopted the Carniolan. However, B Adam concluded that practices here were bound by tradition and prejudice. “perfection in beekeeping is not found in a multiplicity of appliances, but in simplicity and the elimination of everything not absolutely essential. At the Celle Bee Research Institute, Lunberger Heide the Nigra , Italian and Carniolan were being is studied. The Carniolan was giving the best production.
B. Adam questions teachings on the continent that the highest honey prducers should not be used for breeding “the blender - a colony that blinds by it’s brilliant performance” “it is one of the axioms in breeding when dealing with pure stock, that like breeds like. But modern genetics has shown that in the case off sexually reproduced organisms there are hardly any instances of absolute uniformity” whenever a number of breeders are used one is able to make tests of their progeny and the actual results obtained will determine the issue. Without constant comparative tests the breeding of bees is a hopeless gamble. “ “ keep a minimum of three or four drone colonies … perhaps selected from 100 to 200 colonies”
B. Adam finds the bees of Iberian kept in cork hives rather uniformly aggressive.
The book is divided into 2 main parts. Eighty per cent concerns adventures across the European continent and North Africa is search of the best bees with which to establish a breeding programme in South Devon. About 100,000 miles in the middle of the twentieth century meeting with Europe's bee keeping elite; such an exciting escapade. The book begins " exactly a century has elapsed since the invention of the modern hive.” To Brother Adam this is the point - to find the best material for the bee suitable for the modern bee keeping and take advantage of hybrid vigour as opposed to keep seeking improvement by line breeding.
In France B.Adam visits Corbieres and finds the French bee lacking “ I came across some of the most horrible mongrels I have ever seen.” He is concerned that Central European bees are susceptible to brood diseases.
As he travels he calls upon the most renowned Bee keeping institutions and personalities. For example In Switzerland he samples Alpenrosen honey with Anna Maurizio whose work is often quoted in other Beekeeping literature. It is at this point that a slight irritation creeps in. Sometimes the obsequious effusions can cover whole paragraphs yet that irritation quickly softens to affection. B. Adam is so engaging on the subject of bees. He is impressed with the Nigra honeybee in Switzerland and blames “ faulty breeding” for the fact that this characteristics of this bee are not found in Germany. In addition he has found in his own apiary it swarms to excess. His comment on the Swiss beehouses “excessive protection, and the excessive heat”. B. Adam concludes that in Switzerland the beekeeping methods and type of bee are not for Devon.
In Austria B. Adam encounters the famous Carniolan ; South of Tauern and in Carinthia and Carniola. He says it is similar to the Italian with grey over hair. “Exatraordinary docility” Easily shaken off combs” “hardiness longevity and wing power””forms small colonies in the autumn, and consequently manages to winter on a minimum of stores … in contradiction to the Italian” “ honey producer par excellence “exceptional tongue reach ..red clover…good comb builder..paper white cappings …less propolis. He warns that the right strain must be chosen to get these qualities and again encounters the problem of “swarming propensity”
In Italy “the world-wide popularity of the Italian bee is beyond dispute” yet there are problems “ tends to breed to excess at the conclusion of the main honey flow..extravagant with stores.. not thrifty and lacks the hardiness, longevity and wing power manifested in varying degrees by most other races. It drifts badly.. subject to spring dwindling”. B. Adam prefers the leather coloured bee from the Ligurian Alps between La Spezia and Genoa. He found the bright yellow bee further South tended to propolise more.
In Sicily he found the bees feasting on Carob.
In Germany near the shores of Lake Constance B. Adam visits Professor Dr L. Armbruster who once ran the Berlin Dahlen Bee Research Institute. They agree that the aim of breeding honeybees should be to produce a bee that provides maximum returns for minimum effort. B. Adam found the Algau similar to Devon with plenty of dandelions to provide honeybee nectar. In this region bee keepers have adopted the Carniolan. However, B Adam concluded that practices here were bound by tradition and prejudice. “perfection in beekeeping is not found in a multiplicity of appliances, but in simplicity and the elimination of everything not absolutely essential. At the Celle Bee Research Institute, Lunberger Heide the Nigra , Italian and Carniolan were being is studied. The Carniolan was giving the best production.
B. Adam questions teachings on the continent that the highest honey prducers should not be used for breeding “the blender - a colony that blinds by it’s brilliant performance” “it is one of the axioms in breeding when dealing with pure stock, that like breeds like. But modern genetics has shown that in the case off sexually reproduced organisms there are hardly any instances of absolute uniformity” whenever a number of breeders are used one is able to make tests of their progeny and the actual results obtained will determine the issue. Without constant comparative tests the breeding of bees is a hopeless gamble. “ “ keep a minimum of three or four drone colonies … perhaps selected from 100 to 200 colonies”
B. Adam finds the bees of Iberian kept in cork hives rather uniformly aggressive.
February 19, 2015
It's about bees obviously but it's more than that it's about love and the earth too............
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews