PREFACE. 



After repeated requests from friends, readers of ' ' The 

 Britisti Bee Journal " and " The Bee-Keepers' Record," and 

 also from members of the audience at a large number of the 

 lectui-es which I have given in every part of the British 

 Islands, that I should write a cheap, concise, and up-to-date 

 Handbook on Bee-keeping suitable for the Cottager and 

 Smallholder, and realising that at the conclusion of the present 

 terrible war the country will have to be more self-supporting 

 for its food supply, and that what are now considered small 

 industries, amongst which bee-keeping is included, will obtain 

 their legitimate recognition, I have felt compelled to try and 

 meet their wishes. This small book is the result. 



It is not claimed that it is an exhaustive treatise on the 

 subject, but I have endeavoured to give in plain language 

 simple methods of managing bees suitable for those who wish 

 to keep, or who already possess, a few stocks. Having 

 mastered the rudiments of the craft, those who becomu 

 ^ambitious may gain further knowledge by reading more 

 advanced works. 



WithoTit egotism, I claim that my varied experience 

 during the past twenty-five years, first as a workman in the 

 , factories of appliance manufacturers, afterwards as a touring 

 expert, and finally as a teacher and lecturer, being 

 also the owner of a lajge apiary, enables me to give 

 'the advice required from actual experience instead of 

 bolstering it up with theory and useless padding; neither has 

 other writers' matter been cribbed and passed off as my own, 

 which, unfortunately, is the practice of some persons who 

 -from mercenary motives try to obtain a reputation for know- 

 pledge which they do not possess, and who attempt to foist 

 >their purloined goods upon unsuspecting persons. 



This book is not written as a means to such an end, and 



I shall at all times be pleased to explain bv letter any poini 



j.;^the reader may not quite understand, providing always that 



r-my correspondent encloses a stamped addressed envelope for 



\a reply. 



