FOREWORD. 



This book was first published in 1906 as a serial in Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture. At that time comb honey was more generally produced than at 

 present, the change to extracted-honey production having been rapid in 

 this country since the passage of the Federal Food and Drugs Act of 

 June 30, 1906. The book was, therefore, written from a eomb-honey view- 

 point, though the teaching is equally sound for the production of ex- 

 tracted honey. 



For eomb-honey production many beekeepers had reduced the size of 

 their hives in an effort to have them well filled with brood at the beginning 

 of the honey flow. The original 10-frame Langstroth hive was cut down 

 to eight frames. This was followed by a further reduction to five frames 

 during the honey flow, by some of the leaders of that time. The contrac- 

 tion of the brood-chamber to five frames during the honey flow became 

 quite a fad from 1885 to about 1000, when the tide began to turn toward 

 larger brood-chambers. The result of all this contraction, which was in- 

 tended to force most of the honey into the supers, was smaller colonies; 

 and these, owing to scanty stores, lived almost from hand to mouth, making 

 almost constant attention necessary to prevent starvation, especially during 

 the spring. The small hives and small colonies (many of which had only 

 five Langstroth combs during the greater part of the year) required so much 

 attention and fussing that the operation of out-apiaries was difficult. This 

 will explain the author's frequent mention of contraction, stimulative feed- 

 ing and spreading the brood — practices which are but little known today. 

 But the worst feature of the trend of beekeeping practice of that period 

 was the resultant smaller colonies at the beginning of the honey flow, which 

 were largely responsible for the long series of poor seasons and the great 

 depression of the industry along about 1890, from which recovery is not 

 yet complete. 



Since the passage of the Federal Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 

 1906, the establishment of out-apiaries for extracted-honey production has 

 become quite general. Apiaries are often located quite a distance from 

 the beekeeper's home, thus making necessary radically different methods 

 from those formerly in vogue, for in out-apiaries it is now necessary to 

 provide conditions which permit leaving the bees, without attention, for 

 long periods. In this book the author explains how he suceeded in gettinar 

 rid of the fussy and laborious methods then in vogue, by (1) replacing all 

 poor queens in late July, (2) good wintering, (3) giving in the spring an 

 extra story containing frames of honey saved over from the previous sea- 

 son to provide ample stores and room for brood-rearing before the honey 

 flow, and (4) the prevention of swarming. The book, therefore, pointed 

 the way for the "new beekeeping" now so rapidly coming to the front, 

 which emphasizes the importance of strong well-fed colonies, abundantly 

 supplied with a reserve of stores at all times but especiallv during the 

 building-up period in the spring, then left alone most of the time, instead 

 of the fussy, hand-to-mouth methods formerly so much in vogue. 



The original language of the author has been retained in this edition, 

 as well as the illustrations, footnotes being used to explain certain passages 

 which might not be clear to those who are unfamiliar with the histoi-y of 

 recent developments in beekeeping practice. This should bring out with 

 greater emphasis the great changes for the better than have come about in 

 beekeeping within recent years, and make clearer some of the reasons for 

 these changes. — Geo, S. Demuth, 



