author
M. (Moses) Quinby
1810–1875
A practical beekeeper and inventive teacher, he helped shape American beekeeping in the 19th century. He is best remembered for clear, experience-based writing and for developing the bellows bee smoker that became a standard tool.
1 Audiobook
Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained
by M. (Moses) Quinby
About the author
Born in New York in 1810, Moses Quinby became one of the most influential early American beekeepers. He built his reputation through hands-on work with bees and was widely remembered as a pioneer of practical and commercial beekeeping in the United States.
Quinby wrote for agricultural readers and published important books on bee culture, including Mysteries of Bee-Keeping Explained and Quinby's New Bee-Keeping. His writing stood out for its plain, useful approach, focusing on what actually worked in the apiary rather than on theory alone.
He is also known for inventing the bee smoker with bellows in the 1870s, a major improvement in beekeeping equipment. Quinby died in 1875, but his influence lasted through both his inventions and his straightforward guidance for generations of beekeepers.