PEBFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



In the following pages it has been my endeavour to treat 

 the subject of Bee-keeping in detail as fully as the size 

 of the work permits. Where there are several ways of 

 performing the same operation or arriving at the same 

 end, I have thought it best not to confuse the beginner 

 with a multiplicity of methods, and have therefore detailed 

 only that one which my experience has proved the best. 



With regard to the practical side of the subject, these 

 pages embody the results of exhaustive experiments 

 which I have carried out on several points ; and in those 

 cases in which my own experience does not lead me to 

 speak with confidence and certainty, I have been careful 

 to compare the highest authorities, and to obtain the 

 information on which I base my conclusions from the 

 most reliable sources and the best-known authors. 



I have striven to avoid over-burdening the work with 

 unnecessary verbosity, my aim having been to explain, 

 as tersely and with as much brevity as possible, the 

 mysteries of the beehive, the various manipulations con- 



