PREFACE. 



Seventeen years ago there was published a little book writ- 

 ten by me, the title being "A Year Among the Bees." For sev- 

 eral years I have thought of revising it for another edition, 

 but seemed too crowded for time. Upon essaying the task at 

 last, I found that, in the course of the years, matters had changed 

 so much in bee-keeping that most of what was written had to 

 be cast aside, and the task became that of re-writing rather than 

 revising, as but a small portion of the old could be retained. 

 The present work has been much enlarged, allowing a fuller 

 entering into details, and mention is made of some of the differ- 

 ent things belonging to the forty years since I began bee-keep- 

 insr — forty-one years and a half, to be exact — making the present 

 name seem the appropriate one. 



At the request of the publishers, a brief biographical sketch 

 is given. However much this may be enjoyed by some personal 

 friends, I fear that others may think that the space could have been 

 better filled with something else. But there is this one comfort : 

 There is no law against skipping the first few pages. 



With two exceptions, the pictures in this book are from 

 photographs taken by myself or under my immediate supervision, 

 using a No. i Folding Pocket Kodak. When I say "taken by 

 myself, " I do not mean I did all ; I merely " touched 

 the button," the Eastman Kodak Co., of Rochester, N. Y., "did 

 the rest." I could never dream of doing such exquisite work 

 as they can do in developing and printing. The character of the 

 work secured by the publishers after the completion of the pho- 

 tograph speaks for itself. Even my small part of the work pre- 

 liminary to "touching the button" has opened up to me a field of 

 pleasure little anticipated. The child delights in his rattle, the 

 millionaire in his steam yacht ; I think I would not exchange my 

 little ten-dollar kodak for either rattle or yacht. 



C. C. Miller. 

 Marengo, III., December, igoz. 



