AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



In writing the following pages I have had no wish 

 whatever to add another to the many existing 

 ' Guides ' to the management of Bees ; neither have 

 I attempted in any way to produce a scientific 

 treatise. I have simply endeavoured to write an 

 introduction to the subject suitable to young readers ; 

 and, while impressing the importance of habits of 

 observation, have sought to unfold to them one little 

 page of the vast Book of Nature ; and, by showing 

 some of the simplest of the many wonders of bee- 

 life, to give them that interest in the subject which 

 may lead them to desire to know more, and, after- 

 wards, to take up Bee-keeping for themselves, with 

 that knowledge which, while it adds tenfold to the 

 interest, is more or less absolutely necessary to make 

 it profitable. 



But, while the book is thus in great measure in- 

 troductory, and is primarily intended for the young, 

 it is hoped that it may not be altogether uninter- 

 esting to those of riper years, and may furnish them 

 with some inducement to proceed to the investigation 

 of the science of the subject, and to Bee-keeping in its 

 most modern and advanced methods. 



