PREFACE. 



OcK apology for preparing a bee book is a very 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 " handy-book " of our own, which should contain 

 full and detailed replies sufficient to meet aU ordinary enquiries. 

 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 explanations 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 the hiving and removing 

 of bees ; and also, to show how, by judicious application of the 

 " depriving " system, the productive powers of the bees may be 

 enormously increased. 



We need say little here as to the interest that attaches to the 

 apiary as a source of perennial pleasure for the amateur naturalist. 

 Many of the hives and methods of management are described 

 with a direct reference to this class of ' bee-keepers ; so that, 

 besides plain and simple directions suitable for cottagers with 

 their ordinary hives, this work will be found to include instructions 

 useful for the scientific apiarian, or, at least, valuable, for those who 

 desire to gain a much wider acquaintance with the secrets of bee- 

 keeping than is now usually possessed. We would lay stress on 

 the term " acquaintance," for there is nothing in the management 



