THE LIFE OF THE BEE 



I 



ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE HIVE 



IT is not my intention to write a treatise on apiculture, 

 or on practical bee-keeping. Excellent works of the kind 



abound in all civilised countries, and it were useless to 

 attempt another. France has those of Dadant, Georges de 

 Layens and Bonnier, Bertrand, Hamet, Weber, Clement, the 

 Abbe Collin, &c. English-speaking countries have Lang- 

 stroth, Bevan, Cook, Cheshire, Cowan, Root, &c. Germany 

 has Dzierzon, Von Berlepsch, Pollmann, Vogel, and many 

 others. 



Nor is this book to be a scientific monograph on Apis 

 Mellifica, Ligustica, Fasciata, Dorsata, &c., or a collection 

 of new observations and studies. I shall say scarcely any- 

 thing that those will not know who are somewhat familiar 

 with bees. The notes and experiments I have made during 

 my twenty years of bee-keeping I shall reserve for a more 

 technical work, for their interest is necessarily of a special 

 and limited nature, and I am anxious not to overburden this 



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