PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



^^(?UR apology for preparing a bee-book is a very 

 1^ simple one. We are so frequently applied to 

 for advice on matters connected with bees and bee-hives, 

 that it seemed likely to prove a great advantage, alike to 

 our correspondents and ourselves, if we could point to a 

 "hJindy book" of our own, which should contain full 

 and detailed replies sufficient to meet all ordinary in- 

 quiries. Most of the apiarian manuals possess some 

 special excellence or other, and we have no wish to 

 disparage any of them; yet, in all, we have found a 

 want of explaniations relating to several of the more 

 recent improvements. 



It has more especially been our aim to give explicit 

 and detailed directions on most subjects connected with 



