PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 



In my position as Honorary Secretary of the British Bee- 

 keepers' Association, I was frequently asked to recommend a 

 moderately priced book, which would instruct the inquirer how 

 properly to manage his Bees;' to my great regret I was unable 

 to give a satisfactory reply, being acquainted with no work 

 embracing the requisites of cheapness and completeness up to 

 our then standard of knowledge, to bring it within the means 

 of the many. The best work in the English language was 

 unquestionably 'Langstroth on the Honey Bee'; but this, pub- 

 lished in America, costs here ten shillings and sixpence. All 

 others that I knew did not explain the various systems and 

 apparatus sufficiently, or were too costly for general use. It 

 was universally acknowledged that the Apiarian Exhibition 

 of 1874 had given an immense impetus to Bee-culture, and I 

 had great hopes that one of our clever and learned Bee-masters 

 would have announced during the following Winter a new Work 

 on the subject, which would fulfil the desired conditions ; but 

 the ist day of February, 1875, arrived, and I had not heard 

 the wished-for news ; so, reluctant to let the Spring appear 

 without the needed help, I resolved, faute de mieux, to attempt 

 the work myself; and, having sought and found a publisher, 

 began and completed the First Edition of this little Manual 

 in my leisure evening hours of the same month of February. 



The Second Edition followed the first so rapidly that very 

 little enlargement or correction was requisite, but between the 

 publication of the Second Edition to the present time a lapse 

 of three years has occurred, during which time Apiculture has 

 made such rapid strides that the necessity has arisen to 

 thoroughly revise the whole work, and, in addition, bring 



