EDITOR'S NOTE 



From the time of Virgil to our own day bee-keeping 

 has been the branch of husbandry which has peculiarly 

 appealed to the temperament of meditative man. Nor 

 does the charm of the "bee-loud glade" grow less with 

 our increasing knowledge of the life that runs its mar- 

 vellous course within the walls of the hive. What 

 patient labour has been spent in the gathering of this 

 knowledge is known but to few. Swammerdam, 

 Reaumur and, greatest and most patient of them all, 

 the blind Huber — these are but three out of hundreds 

 of names that are worthy of honour in the history of the 

 science. 



Of all recent events that have drawn towards the 

 hive the eyes of thoughtful folk, the most important is 

 undoubtedly the publication of Maeterlinck's " Life of 

 the Bee," with its vivid descriptions of apiarian politics, 

 and its suggestive application of human criticism thereto. 

 This great poem has, I say, given to bee-keeping an 

 impetus which any number of mere practical and 

 economic treatises would have failed to afford. As a 

 result, a large number of people, without experience 

 but full of enthusiasm, are eager to commence the 

 practice of this simple branch of farming. For them, 

 in the first place, is this book written. It is believed 

 that in the simplicity of its style and in its systematic 

 arrangement it will compare favourably with all previous 

 works on the practical side of bee-keeping — excellent 

 though a few of these are. The beginner is likely to 

 obtain great assistance from the detailed description of 



