The product that most people first associate with bees is honey, although beekeeping generates much more than just honey. The maintenance of biodiversity and pollination of crops are the most valuable services provided by bees. Honey is just one of several different products that can be harvested: others are beeswax, pollen and propolis, royal jelly and venom, and the use of bees in apitherapy, which is medicine using bee products. It is still possible to harvest high quality, excellent products from bees using simple equipment and techniques, building on the traditions held in almost every society. This book aims to provide the information that people working in rural areas of developing countries need to maximise the benefit they can gain from bees. There is no standard text on apicultural methods that is useful for every situation. This is because there is no standard, globally applicable apicultural method. Today, there is still great diversity of apicultural practices throughout the world, although most industrialised countries use standard styles of frame hives for keeping European races of honeybee.